Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I stood in front of Sora’s pod, with Naminé and Branwen. It was almost time. Naminé had finished her work, and all that was left was for Sora to wake on his own.

I’d thrown canon out the window - not that I hadn’t already, but with Roxas, I…what happened to him was too cruel. No way on this green earth was I having any part of it.

So, after DiZ had taught me (and later, Branwen) how to use our darkness to open up access to the Corridors, I’d cornered Roxas alone. I’d been honest with him - straight upfront in a way I hadn’t even been with Sora and Kairi.

They knew my past, but Roxas…I told him of his future. Of Xemnas’s lies about the artificial Kingdom Hearts, that whatever he was building it for, it wasn’t to make them whole again. Because that would happen on its own. I knew that, because a friend had told me. A human Nobody, like Roxas. One I’d met almost a decade ago, when the older man had been on the run from the Organization. On the run and desperate to make sure that if he was caught, the truth wouldn’t die with him.

The truth. The friend I spoke of may have been fictional, based off my encounter with Terra, but no one save myself knew that. I knew more about the Nobodies than they did themselves; all I needed was a credible source to relay the information from. And technically, I had met human Nobodies before I’d run into the Organization - just, you know, in a game.

Roxas, of course, hadn’t believed me at first. Only the Organization had human Nobodies, after all, or at least that’s what he’d been raised to believe. And they would’ve known if there’d been others, because they would’ve been recruited too.

All I’d needed to do was raise an eyebrow, and ask pointedly if he really thought there were only the fourteen of them in all the history of the worlds. And if there were fourteen just in this last decade, then by that reasoning, why shouldn’t there be more human Nobodies out there? There were strong hearts all throughout history, after all, and more besides. Roxas didn’t have an argument for that.

As for the rest, I told him to see for himself, but not to tell anyone what had happened here. Xemnas wouldn’t hesitate to kill him, like he’d threatened to do to other members before. Like how he’d had half the Organization wiped out at Castle Oblivion, for daring to go against him.

I didn’t force Roxas. As integral as he was to Sora’s healing, he was, first and foremost, his own person. Whether he helped me or not, that…that was his own decision. It had to be.

And to my happy surprise, he’d come back; not with Axel but not alone. Crying, betrayed, and hurt, but he’d come back. He asked me more, and I gave it to him. Again, I was honest. Xemnas had lied to him his whole life, and really, honesty was the best policy. I told him about Sora, how they needed to, as much as I hated it, merge back together. But that wouldn’t be the end, I swore it! Roxas’s heart was all his own, but he was walking around with a piece of Sora, and he needed to give it back to him. 

But, I’d whispered conspiratorially, wanna know a secret? Vexen was working on a replica project. It was how Branwen had been born. And one of Xemnas’s orders had been the creation of replica bodies - not people, but bodies. Empty vessels, though for whatever purpose, I didn’t know. But the information was there. 

And using those…we could bring him and his friend back. It wouldn’t be immediately - Vexen hadn’t finished, and even if he had we’d still need to get our hands on some of them, but…

He would come back. Even if I had to go to the ends of the earth and back, I would bring him back. Whatever it took. I owed him that.

And so they came. Abandoned the Organization, and came back with me to Twilight Town. To Ansem’s mansion. I felt bad, knowing Axel had to be going out of his mind with worry, and denying Roxas that connection with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, but…that digital world had been cruel. Far, far too cruel. And DiZ certainly hadn’t helped with that.

But then, fate had apparently conspired for them to meet, as we found out one afternoon when the trio broke into the mansion. Yes, they’d actually broken in - wanting to explore it for their research for a major school project of theirs, and unable to get in through the gate, they’d found another way. Like breaking in through the window.

I’d had to hold back so much hysterical laughter at the sight, at everyone being completely caught off guard and having no idea at all how to react to this, and then it’d been too much and I’d just busted a gut laughing-

And that had snapped everyone out of their stupor. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had wanted to get to know everyone, and while Branwen had been just as eager to get to know them, Roxas and Naminé had been hesitant; Roxas knowing what I’d told him about Sora, and Naminé knowing what would have to happen between her and Kairi, that they’d have to disappear for a while-

But I intervened. I’d told them it was a great idea, but that Roxas and Naminé would have to go eventually, to get treatment for their condition. But once that was done, they could come right back, right guys?

I’d never seen such grateful looks in my life. And so we’d gotten to know each other, to become friends, and for real this time. To see Hayner, Pence, and Olette playing and laughing together, with me and Roxas and Branwen and even Naminé which was just plain awesome and...and...

Someone…else?

Ugh, how I hated this memory effect. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to entirely erase everything - I knew Roxas had a friend, that she’d been a keyblade wielder in the Organization with him, had returned to Sora alongside him, and then-

Well, basically, I knew about her, and how she affected things. But her name? Any personal experiences I’d had with her, not just what I knew about the timeline? Completely gone. And I hated it. Hated losing that.

Memories were, after all, priceless to me. And I’d forgotten her name.

At least I hadn’t lost everything. And while I couldn’t remember her name, exactly, I…at least had something close to it. I remember, back in my first life, I’d found and read the Days and Kingdom Hearts Two mangas before I’d been introduced to the corresponding games. Meaning I’d read her name before I’d heard it, which resulted in me mistakenly thinking it had been pronounced Zion, not…whatever it actually was. Tristan had never let me live it down, the jerk. But, I do know that it had been close. So, until we could remember properly…Zion it was.

And these, these slight hiccups where I knew something but couldn’t actually remember it, those told a story all on their own. I’d been worried, so worried, that Xemnas’s stupid sacrificial plots had come to pass, that while Zion had ditched the Organization she and Roxas had had to fight anyway-

But that wasn’t true, was it. I’d had that block, thinking about Roxas, Branwen, Naminé, and I with our friends. So, that meant she’d been there too, right? That Zion had gotten to be friends with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, before she disappeared.

I hoped so. She deserved it just as much as Roxas did. As much as Naminé and Branwen did.

I looked up, yanked suddenly from my thoughts as the pod hissed, and began opening. Unfurling, to reveal the sleeping form of my brother in all but blood inside.

The only one, aside from Kairi, I’d told the full truth about my past. That I’d died, and been reborn. The ones who’d seen a grieving heart, and had reached out to help. Helped me adjust, and heal.

I owed them so much. I could never repay what they’d done for me. Their support and friendship, it had gotten me through my loss and helped me move on, see this second life for the miracle that it was. To actually live it.

There was a reason why I considered them family.

And when Sora touched down onto the ground, opened his eyes and yawned…his eyes were immediately drawn to me, and I couldn’t help but grin widely.

“Riku! You’re okay!” He beamed, before registering the other people with me. “Who’re these guys? And you got a haircut, ni- wait who is he and why does he look like you?!” Sora asked, gesturing to Branwen. “Long-haired you, I mean.”

I laughed. “That’s Branwen, and this is Naminé.” I said, reintroducing the two. “Once we wake up Donald and Goofy, we need to sit down and have a talk. There’s a lot I gotta catch you up on, before we go.”

Chapter Text

Naturally, as soon as everyone had been filled in on things, the first thing I suggested was for us to haul our butts back to our homeworlds to make sure everyone knew we were okay. After all, the last time Kairi had seen Sora and I, he’d been separated from her and I’d been body-jacked. And while Sora had lost only a couple weeks of memories, he’d been in recovery for months, from spring to the end of summer. 

I’d dropped off a box with a written explanation for Kairi, but I (and then later Branwen) limited our Corridor usage during this entire fiasco, not wanting to risk drawing the Organization’s attention to any of us. Now that everyone had recovered, we didn’t have to hide anymore, and we could immediately haul our butts over to beg forgiveness from our families.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have their gummi ship anymore, like I’d hoped. Well, nuggets. On the other hand, we had a one-way ticket to Yen Sid’s tower from Mickey, so that was a plus. I’m sure he could help us get back. Had they gotten a new gummi ship from there in canon? I couldn’t remember, but I knew they had been able to get one, somehow.

Not to mention Sora needed a haircut and a change of clothes. Those had been two things I’d taken care of immediately after the Castle Oblivion mess, getting properly clean again for the first time in ages and my hair cut back into Riku’s Kingdom Hearts Three length, and then alarming everyone else in the mansion by puking my guts out after dinner. Recovering from starving sucks, guys. It really, really does. Time had done wonders for that, but honestly...the hard part was kicking the habits. I’d made good progress, a lot of progress, but I...still had issues.

At least I’d managed to kick the need to lick all of my dishes clean.

And now here we were, sitting on the train riding through space - which was really freaking AWESOME, by the way, and oh how I wished I had a camera on me - to Yen Sid’s tower. With Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Mickey knowing the truth about Nobodies, even if Mickey wasn’t here with us on the train. Branwen and Naminé were though. Already, this was off to a much better start.

A bright flash of light overtook us, and when we emerged out on the other side, gone were the stars and auroras of space. Instead, the train was traveling above sunset clouds under a night sky, slowing to a stop in front of a very recognizable tower. With...an impossible character to miss bumbling around at the front doors. One whose smell of damp earth overpowered his herbal one. 

“Oh, jeez.” I sighed, following Naminé off the train as we all disembarked. The train vanished in a flash of light, leaving us here alone. Well, alone with Pete that was.

“Oh jeez wha- oh no, not him again.” Donald groaned. Branwen frowned.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Pete. He’s always up to no good.” Goofy explained. “His majesty banished him to another dimension a while ago.” Another WHAT?! “Wonder how he got out?”

“He did, huh?” Branwen mused, before turning to narrow his eyes at Pete. “Then what’s he doing out here?”

“Better find out. Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Sora called out pointedly. Pete just chuckled, never turning from where he was peering through the crack between the doors.

“I sent some of my lackeys inside, to see if the master of this here tower’s as big and tough as they say. Word is, he’s a real powerful sorcerer.” And a real idiot of a Keyblade Master. “Which would make him the perfect bodyguard for me. See, it don’t matter how tough he is - once he’s a Heartless, he’ll do as I say!”

“A-a Heartless?!” Naminé gasped.

“As if! Master Yen Sid isn’t gonna be taken out that easily!” Donald scoffed. Pete just turned around, clearly irritated, only for his eyes to widen comically as he did a double-take at the sight of Donald and Goofy.

“Says wh- aah! It’s you!” Pete yelped, before scowling. “What are you two nimrods doing here?!”

“We’re here to see Master Yen Sid, ah-hyuck.” Goofy explained. Pete just started chuckling.

“Oh, that old sorcerer? Hehehe, he’s probably a Heartless by now.”

“Dude, this is the guy who taught King Mickey. I highly doubt that.” Branwen pointed out dryly. 

“Well you’ll see! Heartless squad! Round up!” Pete shouted, summoning several small Shadows to surround us. Branwen, Sora, and I were quick to summon our keyblades, while Donald and Goofy took up ranged support positions flanking Naminé.

“Wait, seriously? These better not’ve been the kind of Heartless you sent in after Yen Sid. I mean, they’re Shadows, for crying out loud!” I couldn’t help but point out. Even as I spoke, the few Shadows Pete had summoned were already disappearing back into darkness, slain by my friends.

“Ohhh, you just wait! Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!” he said, shaking a fist at us. 

“Uh huh, sure. Come on, guys. The sooner we meet up with Yen Sid like King Mickey wanted, the sooner we can get home. And I for one actually want to see home for myself.” Branwen said, ignoring Pete entirely in favor of approaching the entrance to the tower.

“Don’t worry, my parents will love you. Well, after the initial heart attack, that is.” I snickered, Pete scampering off to who-knows-where as I followed Branwen inside through the doors. Branwen just huffed out a nervous laugh.

“I sure hope so.” he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “I mean...even if I remember them, it’s not like they know me. And while being with everyone in Twilight Town has done wonders for me, it’s not like…” Branwen winced. “I’m less than a year old, Riku. I’m too young and too old at the same time. What, what do I do?” 

I put a hand on his shoulder. “It doesn’t matter that you’ve never met. My parents will love you all the same.” I gently told him. Naminé had given Branwen the memories of my life on Destiny Islands, but we’d learned during Sora’s recovery that those memories were...spotty, at best. He generally remembered most of it, but every time I’d slipped into dwelling on my past life, it became clouded to Naminé, leaving a hole in Branwen’s memory. The Nobodies at Castle Oblivion hadn’t noticed or cared, since it had been good enough for their purposes, and Naminé hadn’t realized how bad it was either, but…

Did it make me an awful person, to be secretly grateful that Branwen didn’t remember those moments? I mean, I was glad Branwen didn’t have to learn how to deal with trauma that wasn’t his, mourning people he’d never met, but...a part of me was selfishly glad that my grief remained just that - mine.

“Yeah, don’t worry! Riku’s parents are great!” Sora chimed in, slinging an arm around Branwen’s shoulders, making him stumble a bit from my brother’s exuberance. “It’ll be surprising, sure, but once they get over that I’m sure they’ll love you!”

“Y-you really think so?” Branwen asked nervously. Naminé took his hand, drawing my newest brother’s attention to her.

“Even if they don’t...you’ll still have us.” she reminded him. Branwen took a deep breath, nodding, before letting it back out.

“Yeah. I- yeah.” he said lamely. “I guess...they’re my parents, you know? Even if they aren’t, not really.”

“Hey, don’t go there. What you’re feeling is perfectly valid.” I said, before nudging his shoulder. “Besides, they are your parents. Identical twins, remember?”

Branwen snorted despite himself, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, that’s true. Thanks, Riku.”

“Not a problem.” I reassured him. Being with the Twilight Town gang had helped Branwen a lot in learning how to be a normal teenager - and not just Branwen, but Roxas, Zion, and Naminé too - but parents were a special thing. It was only natural to want their acceptance, their love. They were our parents, you know? Special, irreplaceable.

Even having two sets the way that I did, all of them were just as beloved to me. There was no better or worse pair, just two different ones. And I loved them.

Making our way to the top of the tower took time, especially since we had to stop every so often to wipe out the Heartless Pete had sent in here. It kind of grated on me, especially since I knew for a fact that Yen Sid could just wipe them off the face of the earth with just a few spells, but of course, he didn’t lift a finger to do anything about it.

Finally, we made our way to Yen Sid’s office, where the man sat waiting at his desk. I wasn't really surprised that Yen Sid smelled very similar to Sora, knowing what the man was like. Donald and Goofy were quick to bow in respect, while Sora nervously looked over at me to take his cue on what to do in this situation. Seeing me standing resolutely in front of the Keyblade Master, back straight, gave him confidence in his own lack of bowing.

“Master Yen Sid! It’s an honor.” Donald said.

“Hey there.” Sora said, waving hesitantly, before Donald and Goofy rounded on him.

“Sora! Show some respect!” Donald hissed. Yen Sid made placetating gestures with his hands, clearly conveying that it was alright, which scored him some points in my book.

“Just because we aren’t bowing doesn’t mean that we aren’t showing respect. We don’t know him like you do.” I pointed out, before nodding at the old wizard. “Hello, Yen Sid.” I said politely, ignoring the scandalized expression on Donald’s face.

“So you four, you are Sora, Riku, Branwen, and Naminé, correct?” Yen Sid asked us. We all made various noises of assent. “Now then, have you seen the king yet?”

“Well, he gave us the ticket here at the train station, but he disappeared right after that.” Goofy explained.

“Yes...the king has been quite busy of late. Therefore, it would seem the task of instructing you six falls upon my shoulders.” Yen Sid decided, and oh boy. Here we go. “I am afraid you have a perilous journey ahead of you. You must be well prepared.”

“What are you talking about?” Sora frowned. “I thought we were just here to go home.”

“There are still Heartless running amok, remember?” Donald pointed out. “Not to mention those Organization people. I know Riku told us we took out several of them in Castle Oblivion, but we didn’t get them all!”

“Donald is correct. And while your past endeavours did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from the great darkness - make no mistake about that - the Heartless are darkness made real, and darkness yet lingers in every heart. The Heartless are fewer. But while darkness exists in yet a single heart, it will be difficult to eliminate them.”

“Uh, I hate to break it to you, but you can’t just purge a heart of darkness.” I spoke up, frowning, because here it was, the same drivel Eraqus had been preaching. “Hearts are naturally made up of light and dark. You literally can’t remove all the darkness from a heart, not without doing some serious damage.” I said, internally shuddering as Ven’s predicament immediately came to mind. If it hadn’t been for Sora pulling a miracle out of his butt, because that’s what he does, even right after being born...Ven would have died.  

Yen Sid just gave me the stink eye, because of course he did. “Darkness is a force we must constantly battle against within ourselves. You cannot take its presence within your heart lightly.”

“And you don’t have to make it out like having darkness is the end of the world.” I retorted.

“Riku!” Donald protested.

“I’m serious! Using my darkness saved my hide not only in Castle Oblivion, but it also let Branwen and I save Roxas and Zion. We wouldn’t have been able to do that otherwise.” I pointed out seriously.

Yen Sid slammed his hands down on his desk, making all of us jump. “You would wield the darkness so casually?!”

“Wh-what’s wrong with it?” Sora wondered nervously. “I mean, Riku mentioned that one of the Nobodies at Castle Oblivion used light against him. Wouldn’t darkness be the best defense against that?”

“Darkness is a slippery road. It lures you further and further from the light, until you become lost within it, addicted to its power.” Yen Sid warned, fully glaring at me now. Wonderful. Good thing I don’t like you either.

“But, but Riku doesn’t just use darkness. He uses his light too.” Naminé pointed out. Branwen was just scowling furiously - and he would, being as he was primarily a darkness user by choice. Yen Sid simply shook his head.

“You cannot have a foot in both worlds. Light and darkness will struggle for dominance within your heart, and you will either choose a side, or be torn asunder between them.”

“Okay, seriously, what is with you people and insisting that light and dark have to be mutually exclusive?” I scowled, annoyed. I mean, I know my worldview wasn’t the norm, but come on. “You don’t see a lack of shadows in the daytime, or a lack of stars in the night. You can’t just separate forces of nature like that - yeah sure, you can draw on one or the other, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re found together out in the worlds.”

“That kind of darkness poses no threat to the Realm of Light. In the heart, however, is where the true danger lies. Darkness is drawn to light like a plague, seeking to snuff it out. It must be eradicated in order to preserve the very light it seeks to destroy.” Yen Sid insisted. 

Goofy frowned. “So you’re sayin’ that light and dark can never work together? That they’ll always be fighting?”

“Exactly.” Yen Sid said gravely. 

“But that’s not how it works!” Branwen protested. “It’s not as black and white as that! It’s not!”

Yen Sid just gave my brother a patronizing look. “That is the nature of light and darkness. There will always be conflict between them.”

“Yeah, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean they can’t work together too.” Sora spoke up nervously.

“No, they cannot. It may seem like they can, but in truth the darkness will use that foothold to fool you, drawing you deeper and deeper into its influence until it is too late. Darkness forever seeks to overtake and devour the light. That is its nature, and why it must be fought and destroyed at every chance.” Yen Sid told him.

“Yen Sid, that’s just…” I sighed, shaking my head. “You can’t do that. Not without destroying the very thing you’re trying to protect.”

“What foolishness are you speaking of?” Yen Sid demanded. 

“You can’t eradicate darkness, or light, and expect the universe to keep functioning.” I explained. “Imagine that light and dark are opposite sides of a sand dollar. You can cut off the bottom half to try to get rid of the darkness, but there’s still gonna be a bottom half no matter what you do about it. And if you break the ‘dark’ side of the sand dollar, or poke holes into it? Congratulations, you've just broken and/or put holes into the ‘light’ half as well.” I said seriously. “Don’t you see? They’re intertwined. You can’t just destroy one, not without destroying the other.”

Yen Sid just gave me a disapproving look. I didn’t care, I wasn’t speaking up for him. I was speaking up for Sora, for Naminé and Branwen, and Donald and Goofy. To make them think, to question what they were being told. So they could decide for themselves instead of merely accepting what they were hearing as the truth. “You are young, and naive. The dangers are very real, and the darkness will use every opportunity to find its way into your heart. In time, you will come to learn the truth, or your own foolishness will destroy you.”

I gritted my teeth. Young. Child. Reckless. Naive. As though my outward age automatically made me a foolish youth who thought he was invincible, that consequences were merely something that happened to other people. Who danced recklessly in the face of danger, heedless of the fire until he was burned, and then the oh-so-wise adults would simply shake their heads at him in knowing disapproval, because they’d warned him, hadn’t they?

No, I hadn’t been naive since the day I’d died.  

“You don’t know Riku!” Naminé - Naminé - protested, and I did a double-take in shock. The Twilight Town gang had been amazing in drawing her out of her shell and bringing out her inner confidence, but seeing the normally reserved Nobody standing up, trembling hands clenched into fists while facing down Yen Sid, really drove that fact home. I was proud of her. 

“Naminé’s right, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” Sora agreed. He was glaring at Yen Sid, hands also clenched into fists. “Riku’s been through more than you can even imagine! Don’t you dare talk down to him!”

“Sora…” I breathed.

“What? Did you think I wouldn’t defend you?” Sora asked me incredulously. My face must’ve said it all, because he immediately got upset at me. “Riku! I can’t believe you!”

“I-I’m sorry!” I stammered out. “I-I just...I’m sorry, you’re right. That was stupid of me.” I’d been worried that...but this wasn’t the same situation as in that other time. Sora and I...why would he take the side of a random stranger, even one some of his friends respected, over the treasured friend and brother he’d known for years?

“Hey, don’t worry.” Branwen said, stepping up to put a hand on my shoulder this time. “Everyone’s entitled to their stupid moments.” That startled a laugh out of me.

“Enough.” Yen Sid said, drawing our attention back to him. Giving Donald and Goofy a curious glance showed that they had uncomfortable expressions on their faces. At least they were thinking it over. That’s all I would ever ask of them. “There are things you still must know. It is time to speak of the enemies you will encounter.”

Dude, if you thought moving on to the discussion about Nobodies was going to sweep this blowup under the rug, you were dead wrong.

“Like the Organization fellas, right?” Goofy asked. Yen Sid nodded.

“Correct.” He said, before waving his hand, making a projection of Donald appear, much to said mage’s vocal surprise. After a moment, the projection glowed brightly before transforming into a Shadow. “If one such as you, Donald, yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this.” Yen Sid said, before continuing his explanation. “The Heartless are always lurking and ever seeking to capture new hearts. Never let your guard down!”

“Of course not, we’re not stupid.” Branwen scoffed.

“Branwen!” Donald yelled. He winced, looking apologetic.

“Okay, that was rude, I’m sorry. But I’m not wrong.” he said. Yen Sid just gave him a look, before apparently deeming his apology acceptable enough and waving his hand over at the projection again. Next to it appeared a second image, this one being the projected form of a Dusk.

“At times, if someone with a strong heart and will - be they evil or good - becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own.” The projection of the Heartless winked away, leaving just the Dusk behind. “An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away...a spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence - for you see, Nobodies truly do not exist at all.”

Three, two, one…

“What are you talking about?!” Sora yelled, before everyone in the room exploded all at once. Everyone began shouting over each other, myself included - I had to participate or it would look really suspicious, not to mention I really needed this vent - much to Yen Sid’s shock, if the hilariously wide-eyed (even for him!) look of alarm on his face was of any indication.

“But Master, that not-!”

“Naminé isn’t-!”

“-dare you mock their-!”

“Roxas and Zion gave up their-!”

“You’re dead wrong!”

“-heart isn’t lost forever-!”

“Nobodies do too exist!”

“-can you even say that-?!”

“Master Yen Sid-!”

“Some master you are-!”

“Silence!” Yen Sid thundered, quieting everyone down. For now. “Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is only a ruse - they only pretend to have-”

“Shut up you old codger!” Branwen snarled. Yen Sid shot him a glare.

“They only pretend to have hearts! You must not be deceived!” He thundered warningly.

“But Master...Nobodies can feel. They don’t lack hearts forever - they grow ‘em back, or at least something like them, ah-hyuck!” Goofy spoke up.

“I do not know where you came across such information, but I can assure you, it is not true.” Yen Sid began, only to get interrupted a second time.

“But we know for sure that Nobodies have hearts. We’ve seen them personally.” Sora interrupted. Yen Sid looked like he’d slammed into an invisible brick wall.

“What?”

“First with Naminé, and then with Roxas.” Branwen explained, before snorting. “And even Zion and I have hearts. Hate to break it to you dude, but you’re wrong.”

“What?!” Yen Sid gaped, looking back and forth between Naminé and Branwen incredulously. “You- you two- what? Nobodies?”

“Actually, Naminé’s the Nobody. Branwen’s a replica - a data clone.” I explained, before scowling. “But that doesn’t make them any less people than we are.”

Yen Sid just stared. I think we broke him. Good.

“Plus there’s the fact that people can be born Nobodies too, Master. Roxas and Naminé are Sora and Kairi’s Nobodies, but they don’t look anything like their ‘original selves’.” Here Donald made air quotes with his fingers, which was just hilarious to see, partially because it was so unexpected and partially because it was Donald Duck making air quotes. “But we know the Nobodies of the Organization do! They’re still the same people they were when they had hearts, but Roxas and Naminé are different. They’re not Sora and Kairi without hearts, but new people.”

“That...that is impossible.” Yen Sid breathed, clearly stunned at this revelation if his fish-slapped expression was anything to go by.

“But it's true, Master. I know it sounds crazy, but the proof is starin’ ya right in the face.” Goofy pointed out. Yen Sid just stared at Naminé, and then Branwen for a long few moments, before sighing.

“Replicas, and Nobodies...both beings that should not exist.” He said, before throwing up a hand to halt the protests on everybody’s lips. “Wait. Hear me out. Branwen...truly, I had no idea that he was even a replica at all. It is not so far-fetched to believe that he is, in fact, real. But Branwen is one thing. Naminé...Naminé should be impossible.” He looked incredibly disturbed, clearly struggling to process all of this. 

“While the Organization is made up of special Nobodies who have kept their human appearance, as you well know, a Nobody either keeps their human appearance or not at all. And yet, Kairi and Naminé...Somebody and Nobody should not differ so drastically in appearance. Not when a Nobody is the echo of the person they once were!”

“You’re wrong. Nobodies aren’t just echoes. Like we said, Roxas and Naminé were born Nobodies.” Branwen spoke up. “And Zion and I, we’re no more echoes than they are. Heaven knows Riku and I are two entirely different people. We just happen to look alike.”

“Yeah! They never had an ‘original self’ or whatever. And once they regrew their hearts, then they were complete beings just like the rest of us!” Sora agreed, pounding a fist into his open hand. “And Branwen’s right, replicas don’t have original selves either. They’re themselves, no one else.”

“That is...you have given me much to think about.” Yen Sid said, still looking like he’d been slapped in the face with a fish. At least he was actually considering things now, which was honestly more than I’d expected. “Replicas, and Nobodies...to think that they are actually…” Yen Sid shook his head. “I can contemplate on, on this later. There are more pressing things to address at the moment.” Yen Sid looked up to face us. “If Nobodies are truly no different from complete beings in the end, then that makes the danger that much greater. As you already know, the king has been busy investigating the threat this Organization Thirteen poses, seeking to discover what their plans are, and just what end they are working towards.”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good.” Sora said seriously, arms folded across his chest. We all made various noises of agreement, knowing what we did from Castle Oblivion either by memory or second-hand. “And since the Heartless were following Maleficent and even Pete, I bet these Nobodies can even control them too.”

“It would not surprise me.” Yen Sid agreed. “Now, I know that this is a heavy burden to bear, but may I ask that you join the king in seeking to end this threat?”

“Of course!” Donald and Goofy chorused.

“Count me in. These guys need to be stopped.” Branwen agreed.

“Yeah. And besides, if these guys are threatening the worlds, there’s no way we can just sit back and let them.” Sora nodded fiercely.

“Can’t go back home if home isn’t there anymore.” I agreed.

“I thank you, all of you.” Yen Sid said. “Now, before you go, you will need more suitable traveling clothes.”

“And a haircut.” I teased Sora.

“Hey!” He protested playfully, no heat in either of our interactions. Naminé giggled.

“Well, he’s not wrong.”

“Yes, your clothes look a bit too small for you.” Yen Sid said, and was I seeing things, or were his own lips twitching upward in amusement? “Through the doors on your right, you will find the three good fairies. If you ask, they’ll create for you appropriate garments.”

“Sweet.” Branwen said appreciatively.

“Yeah, they’re really great at what they do.” Sora agreed, getting a surprised look from Branwen.

“You know them?”

“Yeah! They’re the ones who got me my clothes back but better.” Sora nodded.

“So that’s why you weren’t in your pajamas!” I said in a tone of dawning realization, before giggling at the reminder of barefoot Sora in pirate pjs wandering Traverse Town.

“Rikuuuu!” Sora whined, before cracking up himself.

“Pajamas?” Naminé asked.

“Yeah.” Sora said, beginning to explain as we headed into the next room. “When Maleficent invaded Destiny Islands, it was in the middle of the night, and Riku, Kairi, and I were having a sleepover. So when we were cast off to different worlds, it was in our pajamas.” He finished, looking embarrassed.

“I just throw a tank top on and call it good. I’m not that fond of actual pajamas like Sora and Kairi.” I explained at Branwen and Naminé’s odd looks. “Which turned out to be a good thing, because you know. Hollow Bastion.”

“That’s true.” Sora winced.

“Well, look who’s here, dears! Sora, Donald, and Goofy!” Flora said.

“Oooh, and they even brought friends!” Fauna cheered.

“If you’re looking for clothes, you’ve come to the right place!” Merryweather agreed excitedly.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re here. Or, well, some of us.” I said.

“No no, all of you. What we make aren’t just ordinary garments.” Flora protested.

“They have very special powers.” Fauna nodded. “They’ll help protect you on your journey more than what you’re wearing will.”

We all exchanged a look, before collectively shrugging. It couldn’t hurt, and better safe than sorry anyways. 

“Alright. So, what do we do?” Naminé asked.

“Here, we’ll split up. Sora, you and your friend there - the one with the long silver hair - you come with me.” Flora insisted, bustling Sora and Branwen over to the side.

“Ooooh, I’ll take you! Come with me, I’ll get you something much nicer than that plain old dress!” Merryweather said, taking a startled Naminé off with her.

“Not going to help Donald and Goofy?” I asked Fauna, the only fairy left, curiously. She just waved a hand at me.

“Oh no, we’ve already outfitted them. And unlike Sora, they haven’t outgrown their clothes.” she explained. I nodded.

“Yeah, fair enough. So now what?” I asked.

“Well first dear, you need to take off that coat. Every part of it.” Fauna told me, and I did as instructed, shedding the gloves, hooded coat, pants, and boots, before standing there in, well, just a plain undershirt and my underwear. Great, now it was my turn to be standing around barefoot and underdressed! “Now, just hold still, and my magic will do the rest!” Fauna said, before twirling her wand and doing just that, her magic striking my chest to transform my clothes. 

“Ummm...can I not go with that?” I asked with a wince, looking at the very KH1-reminiscent clothing, and not, really...liking it. Especially those pants. 

“Oh of course dear! These are your clothes, after all - we’ll find a design that you like, don’t you worry.” Fauna assured me.

“Thank you.” I told her, and she just smiled before using her magic to transform my clothes again. This design - it was Riku’s Kingdom Hearts Two design now, minus the brace since Roxas never crippled my wrist. Only in my case, that stupid splayed zipper on the bottom was a problem, and for more than one reason. “Yeah, this is much better. But can you fix the splayed zipper at the bottom for me? And give me black wristbands? That would be awesome.” 

A flash of magic later, and Fauna adjusted my clothes to fit my requests. “Sweet. Thanks, Fauna.” I grinned. Now my black zipper shirt didn’t look like the zipper was breaking apart at the bottom, and it wasn’t exposing the bottom part of my scar. Not to mention I had my wristbands back, I liked my wristbands dangit. 

“Oh, no need for thanks. Designing and matching clothes to owner is thanks enough for us.” she said. Turning back around, I saw Sora standing to the side in his classic Kingdom Hearts Two outfit with his hands behind his head, grinning as Branwen’s clothes went through transformation after transformation. Which was no surprise, Branwen took deciding what he liked very seriously. And as for Naminé...

“Oh wow, Naminé! You look great!” I said enthusiastically, which made the younger Nobody blush in embarrassment. I wasn’t kidding - while she still wore a white dress, it was longer, coming down to just above her knees, and shimmered with rainbow iridescence. Over that, she wore a light blue jacket, matching the blue of her sandals - err, the sandals she had been wearing before, as she definitely wasn’t wearing them now. While her shoes were still the same pale blue, now they were boots done up with silver laces, matching the silver lining on the inside of her open jacket.

“Th-thank you.” she said nervously. Merryweather just huffed.

“Of course she looks great, I designed it!” she stated.

“There you go! My, you’re quite the tricky customer, aren’t you dear?” Flora spoke up, drawing our attention back to Branwen. He wore a long-sleeved, red and cyan plaid shirt with the sleeves stopping in a bunch just before his elbows, buttons left undone to reveal the white undershirt he was wearing underneath. Like me, he stuck to regular jeans as his pants, though his were tan instead of blue. And last but not least, Branwen wore black tennis shoes to complete the outfit. 

“You look great, Branwen!” Sora cheered. Flora nodded in satisfaction.

“Yes, there’s nothing quite like finding that perfect match. There you go dear, all done.” she told Branwen, who was quick to rejoin us, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Thanks, guys. We really appreciate this.” Sora told the three good fairies.

“Oh of course. No need to thank us!” Flora told him.

“We were more than happy to help.” Merryweather agreed.

“There’s also something else for you, from Master Yen Sid.” Fauna told us. Donald and Goofy exchanged equally excited looks.

“Oh, boy!” Donald cheered.

“Wonder what he’ll give us?” Naminé wondered aloud.

“Probably something good.” Branwen smiled, before growing serious. “We’re gonna need it.”

~*~

Coming back into the room, I was actually surprised to see Yen Sid not at his desk - instead he was standing over by one of the back windows, one shaped like a crescent moon. And there-

“The gummi ship!”

“It’s the gummi ship!” Donald and I shouted gleefully, before giving each other entertained looks while Goofy chuckled behind us. All six of us were quick to race over to the window, getting a good look at our passage between worlds.

“So that’s the gummi ship.” Branwen said, giving it an odd look. “It's...definitely not what I imagined it would look like.”

I snickered, remembering when I had first seen the gummi ship. Nick and Tristan had planned ahead when showing me the first Kingdom Hearts game for the first time, with Tristan pulling out his phone once we got to that part while I watched Nick play. We all still had my baffled expression captured forever on our phones, because let’s face it, it was funny as heck. “No, it’s definitely something else.”

“So, is everyone ready to go?” Sora asked.

“You bet!” Donald nodded. “We gotta make sure everyone knows we’re okay!”

“Now now, just a moment.” Yen Sid spoke up, getting our attention. Donald and Goofy were quick to snap into almost military-like positions. Made sense, actually, since they were part of...was it an honor guard? Castle guard? Something like that. “Because of your previous endeavours, the worlds have returned to their original states. That means the pathways between them have disappeared.”

“What? Then how are we going to get between worlds?” Naminé asked, dismayed.

“Do not fear. If what the king suspected proves true, the worlds have prepared new pathways along which you may travel.”

“Makes sense.” I nodded. “They may be back to being separated, but they still have to be connected. Those connections are likely those new pathways you’re talking about, right?” I asked Yen Sid. 

“It is likely.” Yen Sid agreed. “These pathways, or connections as Riku here put it, may be utilized by unlocking special gates. How these gates are opened, I’m afraid I do not know…”

“Well Master, they are new after all.” Donald pointed out. Yen Sid nodded in agreement.

“Yes. And though I do not know exactly how the gates can be unlocked, I do know that the keyblade will serve as your guide. When a beam of light radiates from the keyblade, return to the gummi ship. Though the worlds may seem far apart and out of reach, they will always remain connected by invisible ties. As do our hearts.”

“Our hearts are connected.” Sora repeated. I playfully hit him in the shoulder.

“Course they are, we’re friends!” I told him, which made him grin at me happily.

“Correct. But be warned. As you proceed...the Heartless and the Nobodies will be using their own paths: the Corridors of Darkness, to travel from world to world.”

“Corridors of Darkness, like the ones Riku and Branwen were using?” Sora questioned. 

“Riku a- yes.” Yen Sid cut himself off, before nodding gravely. “And that is where the danger lies. Only beings of darkness, and those close to it, may use those gateways. Be wary, Riku, Branwen, lest you fall to darkness.”

“Falling is a choice, not an accident. And I’m not going to throw away either my light or my darkness for the other. I know what I’m doing, and so does my twin brother. Seriously, we’ll be fine.” I tried to reassure him, though I doubt it worked well. No, I was more concerned about Branwen and the expression he was pulling. Caution was needed, yes, but again, as long as you didn’t ditch one for the other you’d be fine. 

Falling was a choice. It was just like in Star Wars; you had to let it corrupt you, just like Riku had in the first Kingdom Hearts game. Ansem hadn’t been able to take him over until he’d made the choice to completely open himself up to the darkness. Branwen deciding to be a strong darkness user was no more different than Mickey having decided to be a powerful user of light. The tools they used were just that: tools. They couldn’t force you to do anything. 

Eraqus, and Xehanort...they both made the choice to fall. One to darkness, and one to light. Taking one over the other and losing themselves to it, hurting those close to them in the process.

Just look at what Eraqus tried to do to Ven - would have done to Ven, had Terra not interrupted. His apprentice, the boy he’d raised and trained for four years...he’d been willing to kill him, just like that. Even Terra, who he’d raised and trained for even longer, when he’d gotten in the way. Because he was afraid of what would happen if the boy with a heart of pure light and the boy with a heart of pure darkness met in battle. He was afraid of the possibility of the X-Blade being reforged through them. 

...He knew. He knew, because he and Xehanort had agreed to separate the two, to never let them come in contact with each other for the safety of the worlds. Not that Xehanort had had any intention of keeping to that, not when he’d split Ven’s heart in half to create those hearts of pure light and darkness in the first place. To pit them together, to have them fight, so that the clash between light and dark would give him the X-Blade he so coveted. 

Eraqus should’ve just stopped Xehanort right then and there, as soon as he’d come to him about Ven and Vanitas. Should’ve realized there was no way Heartless could’ve ever caused such a split. Why would they, when it was the heart itself that they were after? It would have saved everyone so much grief and heartache, but...friendship is a blind spot, one easily exploited. Ansem taught me that one the hard way. And Ansem, Ansem is Xehanort. I shouldn’t be surprised…shouldn’t’ve been surprised. 

“...Heartless and Nobodies, they may be attempting to link these dark pathways to the gates between the worlds.” I registered Yen Sid saying. Dangit, I missed something - pay attention Riku, this is no time to be getting lost in your own thoughts. 

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Donald protested, hitting his fist into his open palm. Yen Sid just looked at this display with amused indulgence.

“Now then, that is all the information I can give to you. Go forth, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Branwen, and Naminé. Everyone is waiting.” Yen Sid told us. “May your heart be your guiding key.” I heard him add, almost too quietly to hear.

“Okay, let’s get going!” Sora cheered, before Donald and Goofy turned to assume their militaristic positions facing Yen Sid.

“Master Yen Sid!” Donald began, before he and Goofy saluted the man.

“We sure do appreciate the help!” Goofy agreed. Sora and Naminé hesitantly mimicked the pair, while Branwen apparently decided to cue off me in just nodding in acknowledgment instead of saluting Yen Sid. We were quick to turn and race out of the room, making our way to the bottom of the tower and outside to where the gummi ship was waiting.

Now, we could finally tell our families that we were alright.

Chapter Text

After lifting off from Disney Castle (and oh man, the sight of Daisy reaming Donald out was both hilarious and terrifying. I’m glad that hadn’t been aimed at me. And it was good to take some of the weight off Minnie’s shoulders, letting her know Mickey was okay), we then turned to our connection to guide the way to Destiny Islands. Arriving at my adopted homeworld, we landed carefully on the Play Island, out of sight.

“Alrighty, now we just gotta find Kairi.” I said.

“Found her.” Sora grinned, pointing to where she was coming out of the Secret Place, her face lighting up as she saw us.

“Riku! Sora! You’re okay!” she shouted, racing over across the sands to tackle us both into a hug. I breathed in her strong, almost overpowering herbal scent; the smell of pure light, exactly like Naminé’s. “I know you dropped off that letter but it’s still so, so good to see you both again!” She said, letting go of us both. That’s when Branwen caught her eye. “Uhh, who’s this? Did you just spontaneously decide to get a twin brother or what?”

I snickered. “Actually, that’s not far off from what happened. This is Branwen. Basically someone decided to clone me, which makes Branwen my identical twin, so I’ve got a new brother now.” I beamed. Kairi just laughed.

“Of course you do. Nice to meet you, Branwen. I’m Kairi, but I’m sure these two have already talked your ears off about me.” she said, holding out a hand for Branwen to shake. He took it gladly.

“Something like that.” Branwen grinned, before letting go.

“So yeah, we gotta explain that to my parents and Sora’s. Speaking of which, I am so grounded, aren’t I?” I added cheerfully. Kairi’s face fell. Oh no. “Kairi?” I asked hesitantly, the bottom of my stomach dropping out from under me.

“When Destiny Islands was restored, people checked in with my father, wanting to make sure everyone was okay. There’s- there’s a bunch of people still missing, some of which could still be on other worlds like what Sora said happened to you, but…” Kairi winced. “Riku, I...at the conference center on the mountain, they, they found bodies. I’m sorry. Your parents, they - they’re in the town cemetery, if you want to- to visit them.” she choked out.

No. No no no no no. No, this couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t be true - they couldn’t, they couldn’t be dead! They couldn’t be! They couldn’t just be gone!  

I didn’t realize I was on my knees, clutching desperately at the sand, until I felt Sora and Kairi wrapping me into a hug.

“S-someone, get- get Branwen.” I rasped. “H-he, he-”

“I’ve got him, Riku.” Naminé said from where she was gripping my equally stricken twin in a hug. I opened an arm, and after a moment Naminé understood, dragging Branwen over for the pair to be folded into the group hug. 

“I’m sorry, Riku.” Kairi told me, sounding like she was holding back tears of her own. “I know what this means to you, and I’m- I’m so sorry.”

I clung to them, sobbing into my friend’s and siblings’ chests, holding them close and never wanting to let go. The grief built and built, and it wasn’t long before I was pulling away from them, bowing my head before I just screamed. It wasn’t fair! They weren’t supposed to die! They were supposed to come back, like everyone else! Why didn’t they come back?! 

I didn’t notice that Donald and Goofy had even stepped forward until they were suddenly there, giving Branwen and I each a hug.

“I’m sorry Branwen, Riku.” Donald said mournfully. I just sobbed harder, clutching onto everyone with a white-knuckled death grip. Desperately anchoring myself in the physical reminder that even though my parents were- were gone, my siblings and my friends were still here. Still alive. Goofy didn’t say anything, but that was okay. Donald had said what they both wanted to. 

I don’t know how long we were there, on that beach, sobbing and wailing and just grieving. Just that by the end of it, both Branwen and I were sitting there on the sands, drained and exhausted.

“...I guess I’ll never know if they would’ve liked me or not.” Branwen spoke up hollowly. I shook my head, choking back more tears.

“No, they would have. I know it.” I said.

“Riku’s right. They’re- they were good people.” Kairi whispered.

“...What do we do now?” Goofy asked hesitantly after a moment.

“Sora, Riku...you guys are on the list of people who didn’t, didn’t come back. Most people did, but there’s a list of people who are still missing, who aren’t...gone for sure.” Kairi explained.

“Then...we should leave, without anyone seeing us.” I spoke up after a moment, getting surprised looks from everyone. “There’s a new threat to the worlds, one we have to take care of. Once we’re done with that, we can come back. No sense in showing up only to vanish again.”

“I-I guess...that makes sense.” Kairi said, before getting a steely look in her eyes. “And I’m coming with you.”

“Of course you are!” Sora agreed, sounding somewhat offended at the implication that we’d be okay with leaving her behind here. 

“What?!” Donald yelped.

“Kairi’s our friend, do you really think we’d just leave her behind?” Sora pointed out. “Besides, she can help us.”

“Well, I guess if you put it that way…” Donald said, before he nodded. “Then yeah, welcome to the team, Kairi!”

“Thank you.” Kairi said.

“Um...guys.” Naminé spoke up, drawing all of our attention to her. “I- I know you just lost your parents, you two, a-and I’m sorry about that, but...I still have to go too, remember?”

Oh. That, that was right. Naminé...she needed to go back to Kairi, like Roxas and Zion had to Sora. She’d have to wait there until we could bring her back, too.

“N-Naminé? What do you mean?” Sora asked, concern written all over his face.

“Remember what I told you about Roxas and Zion? How they had to go back to you to make you whole again, but that their hearts were taking shelter in yours until we can bring them back?” I asked. Sora nodded. “Well...Naminé’s the same with Kairi. She’s, she’s gotta go back too.”

“What?” Kairi gaped. Sora just looked heartbroken.

“But, but can’t we- isn’t there another way?!” he demanded.

“I wish there was.” I said mournfully, before shaking my head. “Remember, guys, it’s not permanent. There’s a way to bring them back.”

“How?” Kairi asked.

“I’ll get you caught up on everything once we get back to traveling in the gummi ship, but the short version is, there was this Nobody, Vexen, in Castle Oblivion. He was doing work with replicas, which is how Branwen came to be.” Branwen just gave a little wave in response to this. “While I was there, I found some other stuff relating to that. Seems he wasn’t just making people, but he was under orders to make replica bodies. Empty vessels. Why, I don’t know. Just that it was what this superior of his ordered.” I explained. “If we can piece his research back together, and get a hold of some of those replica bodies, we can bring Roxas, Naminé, and Zion back.”

“That’s a big ‘if’, Riku.” Kairi said worriedly.

“Yeah. But we’ll do it. This just gives us a starting point as to how. And no matter what it takes, we will do it.” I said determinedly. 

“That’s more like the Riku I know.” Kairi smiled at me, before turning to look at Naminé. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

“I trust Riku.” Naminé said, the words an arrow to the heart, before- before starting to disappear. Turning see-through even as we watched. “Like he said, I won’t be gone. I’ll still be with you, in your heart.” Naminé said, putting a hand to her chest, before finally disappearing entirely.

We just stared at the space where she’d been in somber silence. Watching the place where there had once been a person, until I sniffled, and that seemed to break the spell of the moment. 

“We’ll bring them back. We’ve pieced together research before, and we have help. There’s people we’ve met all across the worlds who can help us.” Donald spoke up, getting a surprised look from me.

“That’s right. And we’ll definitely keep on the lookout for this Vexen guy’s research.” Sora said, nodding determinedly.

“Gawrsh, if we’re lookin’ for that, shouldn’t we head back to Castle Oblivion then?” Goofy asked. I shook my head.

“I don’t think we’ll find anything there, not with all of the damage we did. But we can give it a shot.” I said. I could hope, but it would be too easy if Vexen’s project was actually there. Maybe some of his notes and other things like that, but I was betting that the majority of it was back at the Castle That Never Was. After all, when Aqua had unsealed the Land of Departure it had been entirely back to normal, no traces of Castle Oblivion and what happened within it remaining. 

Unless Vexen’s machinery and whatever else the Nobodies had left behind had ended up in various rooms in the castle, which would be all kinds of awkward and hilarious. “If it’s not there, then I’m willing to bet that wherever the Organization has decided to set up as their main base is where we’ll find Vexen’s research. It was a superior of his in that Organization that ordered him to make them, after all.” I finished, steering my thoughts away from that tangent and back on topic. 

“Good point.” Donald nodded.

“Okay then, let’s go.” Sora said, getting to his feet. “We have to stop the Organization anyway, this is just one more reason why we need to defeat them.”

“You’re right.” Branwen agreed. “Let’s- let’s go.”

~*~

Once we’d all gotten settled on the gummi ship, Donald had Sora take the wheel before pulling Kairi aside.

“Okay, so you’re either gonna be a physical or magical attacker, and we’re gonna find out using this.” He said, handing her a simple wand- actually, wait a minute, that looked a lot like the wand representing ‘magic’ or ‘wisdom’ or whatever that you could pick at the beginning of the games. It might even be the same thing. “Just give it a wave! If it reacts, it- WAAAAAK!!” Donald yelped, ducking quickly to avoid the large burst of light that came from the wand.

“Was- was I supposed to do that?” Kairi asked hesitantly.

“Gawrsh, I haven’t seen that happen since Donald here was first tested, ah-hyuck!” Goofy chuckled.

“Yeah! That’s really good - you’ll definitely be a strong magic user, that’s for sure!” Donald nodded. “But you’re still a rookie, so you gotta listen and learn, okay?”

“Hey, uh, guys?” Sora spoke up, drawing all of our attention. “I can’t find Castle Oblivion.”

“What?!” We all shouted, everyone clamoring to get to the driver’s seat. My brother just looked both embarrassed and frustrated.

“I just can’t find it! I can get to that tower place, Twilight Town, Disney Castle, and here, but not anywhere else!” he shouted in frustration, before getting a surprised look on his face. “Actually, I can get to Hollow Bastion too.”

“You can?” I asked, curious. Sora just nodded, equally taken aback.

“Well, remember what Master Yen Sid said about the worlds openin’ up new gateways for us to take? I’ll bet that we just haven’t found the one for Castle Oblivion yet.” Goofy suggested.

“Then how come we could get here? There were no gateways we opened to do it.” Branwen asked.

“Maybe...it’s because we’re already connected? But I don’t know how…” I said, frowning. There was silence as we all mulled this over, before Kairi’s eyes widened and she let out a little gasp. 

“But we did open up connections to these worlds!” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Yen Sid said that it wasn’t just the worlds that were connected, but that our hearts were too. And they’ve gotta be linked to our homeworlds, because they’re where we live! That’s why we’re able to get to these worlds, but not the others!” my sister said excitedly, before her expression fell. “Though, that theory falls apart when you take Hollow Bastion into account...it’s not like any of us have a...oh.” she said, trailing off as she turned her gaze to me, realization dawning in her eyes. “Whoops. Never mind, Riku’s why we can get there.” she concluded sheepishly.

“Yeah, that makes sense. You did live there for almost a year.” Branwen agreed. “But then how are we supposed to get to the others? Do we need to find a gateway to unlock in one of these four worlds?” he wondered.

“Probably.” Sora nodded, taking up the wheel again. “And since Hollow Bastion’s the only one we haven’t been to yet, we should start looking there first.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” I agreed. “Everyone buckle up.”

Unlike the original gummi ship, this one had been planned for the six of us in mind. Well, with Naminé instead of Kairi, but the number of people remained the same so it worked out. There were three seats in the front; two gunners with the driver’s in the middle, and three more in the back. 

It was actually Kairi, Branwen, and Donald who ended up in the back; Donald was running Kairi through how to cast the Basic Three - Thunder, Fire, and Blizzard - while I took the empty gunner’s seat next to Sora.

“You okay?” Sora asked, without taking his eyes away from the path we were traveling. I sighed, taking hold of the gun controls. It wasn’t hard to figure them out; they were like an arcade game in design. Swerve the controls to point at the target before squeezing the buttons at the top with your thumbs to fire.

“No, but...I’ll get there.” I said. Sora hummed in response. “I just, you know how much I’ve lost already. Even if my first family is still alive, I just...I still lost them. And this time, I wasn’t the one who disappeared. They were. And I miss them.” I sniffled, a small whimper escaping me.

“You still have us, you got it?” Sora told me, eyes steely even though he kept them laser-focused on navigating the path ahead. “Whatever you need - whether it's to talk, have a hug, get buried in a sleep pile, whatever - we’ll be here.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Sora.” I said gratefully.

“You bet. What are brothers for?” He said happily. I heard the clicking sound of someone’s harness being released, and I looked up in time to see Kairi coming up from behind.

“Sora's right. We’ll always be there for you.” she agreed. “Donald taught me what he could, for now. Any more will have to wait until we’ve landed.” Kairi explained, before sighing. “So, what exactly has been going on?”

“You’re gonna want to sit back down for this.” I said, gesturing at the other chair. “It’s a long story. Hey Branwen, mind swapping with me?”

“Sure. It’ll be fun getting to shoot down Heartless.” he said with a grin, unbuckling before getting up from his seat. While Branwen preoccupied himself with figuring out the gunner controls, Kairi and I took our seats in the back.

“Okay, so, the first thing you gotta know is that when the Heartless get to a world’s heart through this passageway called the Keyhole, that world falls. Most people go down with the world, that’s why when Destiny Islands was restored they came back with it, but those with strong hearts are ejected by Corridors of Darkness. And while the majority of them who make it through end up in a world called Traverse Town like Sora did, sometimes people can land in other places. For example, I ended up landing in Hollow Bastion, and yeah, you can immediately see the problem there…”

~*~

Filling Kairi in on everything that happened was pretty much how I occupied myself for the entire trip. Once we touched down on Hollow Bastion (and ugh, being here again...it brought back memories I’d rather not think about right now) I immediately made a beeline for Branwen and pulled him aside.

“You doing alright?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I should be asking that of you.” Branwen replied morosely.

“You have just as much of a right to grieve for them as I do.” I said sternly, having a fair idea of what was going on here and wanting to nip that in the bud, now.  

“They- they never even met me! They don’t, they don’t know me…” Branwen said, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper. “And now, they never will.”

“They don’t, but you do.” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You remember them, and now that they’re- that they’re gone, you miss them. And not just them, but what you could have had, too.” I said shakily, tears of my own gathering in my eyes. “But, but just because they’re gone doesn’t mean you won’t ever get the chance to meet them.”

“What, what do you mean?” Branwen asked me, bewildered. I wiped at my eyes, before continuing.

“Remember how I said that all hearts return to Kingdom Hearts when they die?” I said. Branwen nodded. “It’ll be years and years, but...when it’s our turn, we’ll meet up with them there. And in the afterlife, we won’t ever be parted again.”

“But…but how do you know? How do you know for sure that we’ll see them again?” Branwen asked me. My eyes darkened.

“I…the Station of Awakening lies within sleep, close to the borders where sleep and death touch. Once, I crossed over by accident...and I saw it. The Final World.” I said somberly. I mean, I had seen it, just not...in person. “The guardian there told me that it was where souls with strong things tying them to the world of the living lingered. Things keeping them from moving on. But when they do, there’s only one place for them to go.” I explained, knowing from Chirithy and the Final World that there was an afterlife, waiting in the one true Kingdom Hearts. Where all hearts were reunited again. 

“That place is Kingdom Hearts, and within it, the afterlife. I know it’s there. So don’t, don’t worry. We will see them again, even if it’ll take a while. A whole lifetime, cause if we showed up any earlier surprise son or not they would definitely beat our butts black and blue.” I said, chuckling brokenly. Branwen joined in with a watery snicker of his own.

“I...y-yeah. I get it. But…you said you crossed over the borders of sleep into death? So then how are you still- still here?!”

“Still alive, you mean?” I asked. He nodded. “Well, it was just a temporary crossover. I didn’t die, just...visited I guess. Heaven knows Sora’s done it a lot more often than me, reaching out even in his sleep to those he can feel hurting.” 

“I see...thanks, Riku.” Branwen told me gratefully. “I needed that.”

“Yeah, anytime, brother.” I replied, and we shared small smiles at that. I’d discussed the Final World with Sora and Kairi, years ago. When Sora had brought up feeling more people out there in his dreams, like that night out under the stars when he’d taken Ven into his heart. People who were hurting, people he could help. 

And it was just like him, to unconsciously risk his life for others, visiting repeatedly as he had over the years. Visits that melted away with the morning light, winging away as dreams that slip away soon after waking do. Leaving nothing but the lingering feelings behind. 

No, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the afterlife was there, regardless of the fact that unlike Sora, I’d never physically been to the Final World myself. No, the question was…would it open its gates to me, when the time came? When I died a second time...would I be able to rest in the afterlife with my loved ones? Or would I be denied, rejected for some reason unknown to me, forced into another life to be cursed to lose everyone again and again-

No, wait. I...my heart. Something in my heart, deep down and quiet...it’s telling me that’s not true. I- this is the first time I’ve ever felt something like this. I’ve always thought following your heart was the same as following your instincts, or your emotions, but...maybe it’s more than that. Maybe, when people have been certain that they knew things for sure in their hearts...it was more than just believing. It was that little, quiet knowing.  

Huh. That...really was something else. Hearts...they’re foreign to me. Something I’m not used to thinking of as my own, but...here, in this reality? Things don’t work the same. Hearts are important. An integral part of what makes a person whole. Three forces instead of two: body, heart, and soul. And the heart, it was more than just the soul. Different, but no less important. I’d...I hadn’t really realized that. Not until now. 

These differences between our realities...I really think that’s why Naminé had such trouble accessing the memories of my first life. Here, memories are stored in the heart, a vital part of its existence. What allowed a Nobody to start regrowing their hearts, since they had one of the most important building blocks right there already. But there, back on Earth? Memories were a part of the soul. And while the heart and soul are linked, memory here is always contained within the heart. Always. 

And yet, mine aren’t. Or rather, weren’t. Up until I was reborn here, my memories would’ve been part of my soul, because that was just how things worked. But when I came here? Suddenly there was this new part of me where memories were supposed to go instead, and they kind of got tangled up in the process.

Naminé would’ve only been looking for my memories in my heart, but mine aren’t just a part of my heart - they’re a part of my heart and soul. And it's the parts outside of the heart that she had such trouble with. They’re still linked, still a part of the chain, but they’re not there. And how could she have understood that’s what was going on, when the concept of memories being contained in the soul is just as foreign to her as having this, this powerful other called the heart is to me?

I have a heart. And though I don’t always understand it, and sometimes it catches me off guard, it’s...right, in a way I can’t explain. So, whatever was telling me, deep in my heart, that I would be accepted when the time came - that there wasn’t something inherently wrong with me - thank you. It...means a lot to me, knowing that.

Looking around, I saw that we’d landed in a city, close to the castle. Actually, looking at it, I think this was the same city I’d been scavenging in, when I’d been trapped here a year ago. Only now it was populated by people, the houses and shops cleaned up and repaired. I know Hollow Bastion's restored area had been shown as a town in the games, but in cutscenes of Radiant Garden it was a city. A city I'd wandered through. And really, with all the surviving people coming home, they really needed something a lot bigger than a town to hold them all.

“Wow. This definitely looks different from the last time we were here.” Sora whistled. I nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. I actually think this might be the city that An- that Ansem and I holed up in.” I admitted, taking a good look around in wonder. “It’s really been cleaned up.”

“Gawrsh, that’s for sure.” Goofy agreed.

“I hope Leon and the gang are doing okay.” Donald mused, and that got my attention.

“Leon?” I asked.

“Oh that’s right. There was a group of people living in Traverse Town who were originally from this world. And now that it’s back, I bet they’re the ones trying to get this place back to normal.” Sora explained.

“Uh-oh.” Goofy said, pointing at something on the roofs. That something turned out to be Heartless - Soldiers, specifically. “Looks like they’re still Heartless around, ah-hyuck.”

“We better take them out before they cause problems.” I said, frowning as I summoned Midnight Blue into my hands. Everyone else was quick to pull out their weapons, save for Kairi who didn’t yet have one.

“First order of business, get a weapon.” Kairi grumbled, half to herself and half to us. She wasn’t entirely defenseless though, raising her hands in preparation to test her newly learned spells out in combat for the first time. 

“I’m sure we can find some in one of these shops.” Goofy pointed out. “Until then, stick close, ya hear?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Kairi replied. Happily enough, there weren’t actually that many Heartless in the restored town. It was a relief to see that the people here were doing alright, and that they weren’t being overwhelmed by the Heartless that still remained here.

Turning out of a side street and passing under a large stone arch to get into a courtyard, we were all stopped in our tracks at the sudden appearance of white discs of light. After a moment, I realized that when they appeared, it was around what looked like a skeleton projection of a sphere.

I didn’t remember this. Then again, I didn’t remember a lot of the smaller things.

“What are these things?” Donald asked, giving the strange lights a wary look.

“That’s the town’s defense mechanism!” a woman shouted, and we all immediately started looking around for the source. 

“Up on the roof!” Kairi said, pointing - and yup, there was that ninja girl. Yuffie, I think. Yeah, miss materia thief, according to Nick and what I remember of Final Fantasy Seven. 

“Yuffie!” Sora shouted happily. Well, guess that confirmed that.

Yuffie waved at us with a happy grin, before her eyes widened in alarm. “Look out!”

We whirled around just in time to see the appearance of several Dusks, moving in to surround us. We immediately moved into battle-ready positions, making sure to keep an irritated Kairi providing limited ranged support in the middle of the group.

Dusks were slippery opponents. Annoying, and stronger than Shadows, but they were still basic enemies. It was the work of a few minutes to dispatch them.

“Okay, I really need a freaking weapon.” Kairi grumbled, crossing her arms in annoyance. “I refuse to essentially be dead weight sitting around!”

“Hey, you guys!” Yuffie called, getting our attention before jumping down to land on the ground in front of us. “I see you’re still in top form. And who are these guys? I haven’t seen them around before...hey, is this the other sibling you were looking for? And that king guy?” Yuffie asked, before furrowing her brow in confusion. “Cause they look awfu-”

“No no no, these two are actually my brothers! Their names are Branwen and Riku.” Sora interrupted, before introducing us. “Glad to see you guys are doing okay.”

“Well, what did you expect?” Yuffie asked smugly, before doing a little pose, getting chuckles from several members of our group.

“How are the others doing?” Donald asked.

“Doin’ great.” She beamed, before turning to look at Kairi. “So, you don’t have a weapon, huh?”

“No.” Kairi grumbled. Yuffie just laughed.

“Hey, that’s alright. We’ve got a bunch of stuff around here. Speaking of which, we’re pretty sure we found where you holed up for the winter, Riku.” Yuffie added with a giggle. I did a double-take, surprised.

“Wait, what? How’d you know about that?”

“I told ‘em, after we escaped from Ansem back at the castle. We left Kairi with them before going to where the fallen worlds were being held to get rid of that loser for good.” Sora explained - and wait, since when had Ansem been ‘loser’?!

I made an ‘ah’ noise of understanding, putting that aside for now, before turning my attention back to Yuffie out of curiosity. “So, what makes you think that?”

“Because of all the empty wrappers and containers sitting around!” Yuffie laughed. “You and Ansem sure had quite the hoard down in that storm cellar. We were quite impressed; we didn’t think there was that much food that hadn’t actually gone bad still sitting around.”

“We didn’t either.” I snickered, before growing serious. “Still wasn’t enough, though.” I said, stomach cramping in an echo of past hunger pains. Yuffie gave me a sympathetic look.

“Yeah. Glad to see you’ve recovered.” She said.

“So am I.” I agreed.

“Anyway, right now everybody's working on stuff together over at the house Merlin decided to move into. They’ll definitely be glad to see you.” Yuffie said.

“Yeah! Lead the way.” Sora grinned. Yuffie shot him an answering grin before turning and running off down another street, with us following right behind her. She took us down several streets before finally stopping at a large house, not even bothering to knock before practically throwing the door open. Following her inside, we found Cid hammering away at a keyboard in front of a computer, while Aerith and Leon stood on either side of him.

“Ta-da! Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!” Yuffie cheered, gesturing at the trio. Her voice got their attention, and they turned around, smiles spreading across their faces as soon as they saw us - or rather, Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

“We missed you!” Aerith said, putting her hands together.

“Well, you’re sure in top shape. And by the looks of it, you got the friends you were looking for back.” Cid added.

“Did you two find the king you were looking for, too?” Leon asked Donald and Goofy.

“Yup!”

“We sure did!” Donald and Goofy nodded happily.

“Glad to hear it.” Leon said sincerely, before turning to look at Branwen and I. “We already know Kairi, so which one of you is Riku?” he asked.

“I am. This is Branwen, my twin brother.” I explained.

“Hi.” Branwen said, giving a little wave.

“Twin brother? You never mentioned that.” Cid said, giving Sora a pointed look.

“Well, only two of his siblings were missing.” Yuffie pointed out. Branwen just winced.

“W-well, no, because I- I’m actually k-kind of new.” Branwen spoke up nervously. Aerith frowned.

“If you’re Riku’s twin, how can you be new?” she asked, understandably confused.

“Um...I’m...kindofhisclone.” Branwen muttered in one quick breath, eyes averted and words sped up in his anxiety.

“What? Clone?” Yuffie asked, gaping, before whirling on me with an accusatory finger pointed directly at me. “I thought you said he was your twin! How can he be your twin and Sora and Kairi’s brother if he’s your clone?!”

“He is my twin. What else would a clone be?” I pointed out. Yuffie continued to gape at me, like what I said didn’t make perfect sense. I mean yeah, being cloned was kind of weird, but it wasn’t like that was Branwen’s fault. Kairi just started snickering at the whole thing, clearly entertained, though by what, I had absolutely no clue.

“Does this have to do with where you guys have been since the worlds were restored this spring?” Leon asked. Goofy nodded.

“Yup. We ran into some trouble at a place called Castle Oblivion, and ended up havin’ to sleep for a good while to recover from it.” He said. Donald crossed his arms, scowling in clear annoyance.

“It was a trap. Luckily we managed to get out of it, thanks to Riku, the king, and Naminé, but we had to sacrifice our memories of what happened in order to recover. Riku filled us in on what he knew about what happened after we woke up.” Donald explained.

“Sacrificed memories...that likely explains why we all somehow forgot Sora, Donald, Goofy, and even Kairi existed, only to suddenly remember a couple weeks later.” Leon mused. “We didn’t forget about Riku though, weirdly enough. Reconciling that was a headache and a half, at least until we remembered and it all made sense again.”

“Yeah, there was...a lot of complicated crap going on with memories there.” Branwen said, wincing. I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, not needing to say anything aloud as Branwen gave me a grateful smile.

“That’s all nice to know, but it still doesn’t explain Branwen there.” Cid pointed out.

“Um, there was this dude named Vexen at Castle Oblivion. He kind of cloned me using data he got from fighting me.” I explained, before shrugging. “I can’t be mad at him though, not when I got a brother out of it.”

“There was no ‘kind of’ about it.” Branwen chuckled, scratching the back of his head in sheepish embarrassment. Cid just snorted, clearly amused by this.

“Well, that’s one way of lookin’ at it, that’s fer sure.” He said. “Anyway, we got a bit of trouble of our own.”

“Trouble? Like Nobodies and Heartless?” Kairi asked.

“Nobodies?” Yuffie frowned. “I don’t know what those are, but we’ve definitely been having problems with Heartless.”

“They could be the strange white things that’ve been showing up too.” Aerith pointed out.

“Yeah, basically.” Sora nodded. “They’re apparently what happens when a person with a strong heart becomes a Heartless. Their will keeps their body going, and they continue on from there.”

“Most Nobodies aren’t strong enough to keep their human appearance, ah-hyuck. But thirteen of ‘em are. They’re what make up this group called Organization Thirteen, and they’re a new threat to the worlds.” Goofy added. 

“Wonderful. Just what we needed.” Leon groaned.

“If they don’t have hearts...what does that mean for them?” Aerith wondered. “Without a heart, can they even feel?”

“Not initially. But their bodies know what they lack, and work to fix it immediately. Over time, they grow a replacement heart, and regain the ability to feel emotion.” Kairi explained. “Except those Organization people don’t know that. Riku found evidence back in Castle Oblivion that the people in charge are actually hiding that from them.”

“What? Why would they even do that?” Cid asked. Donald shrugged.

“Who knows? But they definitely gotta be stopped, because whatever their plans are, they’re not good.” he said.

“I see...that does explain some things.” Leon said. “At any rate, we were hoping you could lend us a hand around here.”

“Gawrsh, o’ course we will! Like we could just sit around without doing anything.” Goofy spoke up. Leon just chuckled.

“Glad to have you on board.” he said, before heading over to the door, pulling it open before turning back to us. “Come with me to the bailey - there’s something you need to see.”

“Hang on, before we do that, can I at least get a weapon first?” Kairi interrupted.

“Course you can. We gotta lot of stuff, we’ll find something suited for you.” Cid laughed, before getting up from the computer. “This way.” He said, leading Kairi into another room.

Leon sighed, closing the door. “Guess we’ll wait.”

“Of course we’ll wait, letting someone walk around weaponless is just asking for trouble.” Yuffie pointed out. Leon just rolled his eyes in response.

“Might as well restock while we wait.” Goofy suggested. “Finding a weapon that’s a good fit can take a while sometimes.”

“Good idea. Let’s go, we’ll be back shortly! And with enough potions and such for the six of us!” Donald promised, before the pair left. 

It wasn’t too bad of a wait. Donald and Goofy came back ten minutes later and began distributing various potions and ethers among the group. Hooray for magic pockets; no seriously, it was awesome. Apparently one of the functions of our special protective clothing was to have pockets that were much bigger on the inside, bigger even than the pockets of my normal clothing. And lemme tell you, the extra storage space was much appreciated.

I could fit so much stuff in here it wasn’t even funny.

Not five minutes later, Cid and Kairi came back, my sister holding a long wooden staff crafted to appear as though it had green vines climbing up the wood and blooming into colorful flowers at the top. It was definitely something Kairi would like, and actually kind of reminded me of Destiny’s Embrace now that I thought about it. It was the flowers at the top that did it, I figured. 

“Right, now I’m ready.” Kairi grinned, new weapon held eagerly in her hands. Leon gave her a small smile, before pulling open the door again, only to be interrupted by a gasp from Aerith.

“Wait! I forgot the cards!” She said. 

“Seriously?” Leon grumbled, much to Yuffie’s amusement if the giggling was anything to go by. Flushing in embarrassment, Aerith just dug through her pockets without saying a word. Pulling out three cards, she handed them to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Here. Squall thought you might like to have them.”

“Squall?” Sora asked, confused.

“That’s right, you don’t know.” Leon - no, Squall, and what kind of a name was Squall? - mused. “My full name is Squall Leonhart, but after the fall of our world, I was undeserving of taking up my name again until we got it back.”

I don’t remember this. Was this new, or had Leo- Squall dangit - always been this way?

“Huh? How does that even work?” Donald asked. Squall just shook his head, and was I seeing things, or did the man actually have a small smile on his face?

“Take it as a matter of honor, a promise, and a personal commitment in one. Now, don’t you have a card to be reading?” Squall said, changing the topic. 

“Oh, that’s right.” Sora chuckled sheepishly, before looking down at the card in his hand. “Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, honorary member!” Sora read off, before whirling around to tackle a surprised Squall in a hug. “Thanks, Le- Squall! I mean Squall!” Sora quickly corrected himself, flushing in embarrassment. 

“It was no big deal.” Squall said, clearly a little flustered.

“It’s a big deal to us.” Goofy said as Sora let go of Squall. “So thank you!”

“Right. If you’re done, I’d like to actually get to the bailey now.” Squall said dryly. We all laughed, to which Squall just gave a smirk of his own before opening the door a third time, holding it open expectantly. 

Taking us through the town, he led us out to the bailey, taking us to the top and out onto a stone balcony, before gesturing at something out in the distance.

“You might want to look at that.” He said. We did, and proceeded to collectively lose our minds.

“WAAAAKK!”

“H-how many Heartless are there?!” Kairi gaped.

“Gawrsh, I don’t even know.”

“There’s so many of them, it looks like a black sea.” Branwen breathed. “If seas had hundreds of teeny-tiny yellow eyes, that is.”

“Yeah, it kind of does. But seriously, holy crap. What, did all of the Heartless here decide to migrate over to the...actually, what is that?” I frowned. “It’s not the castle, that’s for sure.”

“No, it’s not. As for the Heartless, well, we don’t know either. We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Maybe even something better.” Squall mused, before turning his attention back to the matter at hand. “There’s still a lot to do, but I know we can do it.”

“You’ve done a great job with the city already. It looks loads better than when I was last here.” I told him. Squall gave me a small smile for that, before looking back out at the black mass of Heartless. 

“That’s really the only thing standing in the way of us getting our world back together. And, well, that.” Squall said, pointing at something below us.

“More Dusks?” Donald groaned.

“Dusks? I thought you said they were Nobodies.” Squall frowned.

“They’re a type of Nobody, like how Heartless have different kinds. Dusks are the Nobody equivalent of Shadows.” I explained.

“I see. Good to know.” Squall said, nodding.

“If there are Dusks here, then that must mean there’s something the Organization wants from here, right?” Kairi pointed out.

“I’ll bet! And if we figure that out, we’ll be one step closer to stopping them for good!” Donald agreed.

“Oh? Did I perhaps hear the name of our Organization?” A deep voice spoke up, startling all of us. My body whirled around quickly, eyes scanning sharply for any sign of the intruder. Except, no one was there.

“Alright, whoever you are, quit hiding and show yourself!” Sora snarled, summoning the Kingdom Key into his hands.

“You’re doing well. This calls for a celebration.” the voice said, before multiple Dusks appeared around us. They didn’t stop to fight though, instead fleeing back into the bailey. All of us, Squall included, were quick to give chase, though I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling the voice had stirred inside me.

I didn’t recognize who that was. Granted, it being sixteen years since I’d last heard whoever was talking would do that, but it still deeply unsettled me. The voice itself was deep, reminding me of Ansem’s. Actually wait, was that- was that Xemnas’s voice?! 

The idea sent a chill of fear down my spine. Out of all the villains present in Kingdom Hearts...he was one of the ones that scared me the most. Even back when this had been nothing more than a video game, instead of real life.

But still, that didn’t explain what he was doing out here. Xemnas was apathetic at the best of times. He didn’t care. He only got involved when it was something that directly benefited him.

So then what did he expect to gain out here? And what was with the whole talk about a ‘celebration’?! That was weirding me out just as much as the idea of Xemnas being out here was!

“The keyblade...a truly marvelous weapon.” The voice mused as we exited the bailey. “Luckily, at least one of them resides in...capable, hands.”

“Well, at least they got their priorities straight.” Branwen said, before playfully hitting Sora’s shoulder. “Guess we got a ways to go to catch up to you, yeah?” 

Raucous, mocking laughter echoed from around us. Multiple voices of laughter - and for whatever reason, Demyx’s voice stood out to me the most, separate from the wash of intermingled laughter. Whether that was because his voice was that distinctive, because he was Tristan’s favorite character and as such I’d been exposed to him a lot more, or even a mix of the two was up in the air. 

Whatever the case was, that didn’t matter. What did matter was that what remained of the Organization was likely here to taunt us. Why, I didn’t know, but hey, it was an opportunity. Maybe we could even take one of them out early if we were lucky.

“Show yourselves!” Squall demanded, his gunblade at the ready. And they did, or at least one of them did, appearing in a burst of dark, musty earth to my senses on the high stone walls surrounding the bailey from a Corridor of Darkness. He then theatrically raised his arms, before the scent got about five times stronger as the rest of them appeared around and behind him. Scents that I…actually couldn’t distinguish from each other. They were all darkness. 

Guess believing wholeheartedly that you were nothing but an empty husk devoid of heart and light would do that to you. It explained why the guys back in Castle Oblivion had been the same, not that I’d been in any state of mind to really think about it then. 

“Drama queens, much?” I muttered, which got snickers from the rest of our group. Even Squall had his lips quirked up in amusement, which was the equivalent of a grin for anyone else.

“Five, six...that’s seven of ‘em!” Goofy suddenly spoke up loudly. “We took out five of them already, so this must be what’s left!”

This at least seemed to take them by surprise. “You...should not remember.” The frontmost one - the same unsettlingly deep voice from earlier - said. Then his head turned to look at me, before continuing. “Ah, I see. So the boy tainted by darkness yet remains with you.”

I facepalmed. Loudly. And it echoed, the sound bouncing off the stone walls around us. Branwen just giggled, patting me on the shoulder in a teasing support. Even Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi looked highly entertained by this.

“First Yen Sid, now these idiots - is DiZ seriously the only one without the collective brain cells of a peanut? And it’s DiZ!” I griped, which made my friends start breaking out in laughter.

“Don’t worry Riku, we get it.” Sora smirked, still cracking up. “Guess these guys are like Ansem; so obsessed with the darkness they can’t see how light and dark are intertwined.”

“Sounds about right.” Donald agreed with an entertained grin of his own. The Organization, for all that they were identically cloaked and their faces hidden, still managed to convey the feeling of ‘what the heck’ from their body language alone. It was actually kind of impressive and hilarious to see. Clearly, this was not going the way they were expecting it to. At all.

“Nice of you to all show up at once. That’ll make defeating you that much easier.” Kairi said, glaring at the assembled Nobodies as she got her laughter back under control.

“What a shame...and here I thought we could be friends.” the leader drawled, which was weirding me out because Xemnas and sarcasm. Sora just snorted in response.

“As if.” The group’s only response to this was to laugh, before starting to disappear back into Corridors.

“Oh no you don’t!” Branwen snarled, throwing a Dark Fire at the group. The rest of us took that as a signal to battle, leaping quickly at the Nobodies to try to engage them before they escaped.

Unfortunately, most of them did. But we did get two of them before they could flee.

“Ow! Now now, do you really think that’s- hey!” Xigbar - because that voice could only be him - protested as we all ignored him, Kairi in particular taking the opportunity to launch a recently learned Blizzard at his face. He summoned his arrowguns to block, only for me to take advantage of the opening to strike in a flurry of attacks with Midnight Blue.

“Dangit, get back here!” Sora yelled over the bang of Squall’s gunblade going off, but the fwooshing sound was all I needed to hear to know that their opponent had escaped. That moment of distraction cost me, as Xigbar shot me directly in the chest, sending me flying off the wall to crash painfully onto the stone stairs below.

“Riku!” Sora shouted, before more gunfire and blasts of magic started up again.

“Ohhh, look at that! You know, he used to give me that exact same look.” I could hear Xigbar saying smugly as I got to my feet, casting Cure on myself because seriously, falling on stone stairs hurt.

“What, Roxas?” Sora asked, and I couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter at the shocked look that must’ve been on Xigbar’s face. “Good, because you’re a turd!”

I leapt back onto the top of the wall then, ready to rejoin the fray. Xigbar was not an opponent to be taken lightly. Luckily for us, we weren’t fighting him alone.

“You- how do you know that?” Xigbar asked, clearly stunned. I couldn’t stop my lips from quirking up in amusement even if I’d wanted to.

“Because he’s our friend.” Branwen answered, Midnight Blue held at the ready.

“‘Friend’? Nobodies don’t have friends. Can’t feel a thing after all.” Xigbar said mockingly, putting a hand over his chest.

“Nope, wrong.” Sora said cheerfully. 

“Are you daft? We don’t have hearts. And without a heart, we aren’t capable of feeling emotion.” Xigbar said, sounding exasperated. Like having to explain to a child why the water was wet, and not for the first time.

“Yeah, true. But that’s just temporary, until you grow replacements! Then you can feel again!" Sora told him. Xigbar looked surprised; I didn't blame him. Although, actually, he was probably one of the ones keeping the secret??

Too bad for him we already knew about it. And it was entirely Xemnas's fault.

Ah, I love being an out of context problem.

“Well, as entertaining as this was, I’m afraid I’ll have to go now. You know, places to be, things to do.” Xigbar said, before a Corridor of Darkness bloomed around him. “Be good, kids!” He said in one final taunt before disappearing, my Dark Blizzard and Donald’s Thundara just a bit too slow to catch him in time, though Squall at least managed to clip him in the shoulder as a parting shot, which ha. 

“...What was that about?” Squall spoke up after a moment. We all just looked at each other, before shrugging.

“We don’t have any more of an idea than you do.” Branwen said.

“Maybe just to taunt us?” Kairi wondered.

“That did seem like what they were doing...at least initially.” Squall agreed, before snorting. “You six certainly threw them off guard, that was for sure.”

“We’re pretty good at that.” Sora said, before he, Donald, and Goofy started snickering at some shared inside joke. Too bad Kairi, Branwen, and I were out of the loop, I’d’ve liked to know what was so funny.

“Well, we know they’re out there. And definitely aware of us.” I sighed. “I highly doubt they’re just going to tell us what they’re after, so it looks like we’re going to have to find out the old-fashioned way.”

“Well, they were talkin’ about the keyblade.” Goofy pointed out. “Though why that was important to them, well, I just don’t know.”

Right, heart collection. Except there was absolutely no way for any of us to know about that, and I had no clue how to safely bring it up without screwing myself over. “Hmm. Well, that’s a start I guess.” I said uncertainly. Especially since there were three of us keybearers now instead of one, meaning the construction of the false Kingdom Hearts would be going three times as fast.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Squall was saying. At least we had the fact that Roxas and Zion had ditched the Organization much earlier in the year working in our favor, meaning they were behind on hearts. That would hopefully buy us the time we needed to take them out before they finished the fake Kingdom Hearts and everyone got Norted. 

Though actually, if they did, we could just kick their butts and they’d be back to normal, right? I...didn’t actually know. We’d never seen Saix or Xigbar’s recompletion, and they were the only two Norted at that point. 

Nuggets. I really hoped it would kick out the fragments of Xehanort’s heart, because if not, then we’d lose the reinforcements I was counting on for Xehanort’s knock-off Keyblade War.

And with our very reality on the line, we needed everyone we could get fighting with us. 

“Yeah. And the king’s working on that as well!” Donald agreed. “Between us, we’ll find out what those guys are up to.”

“And while we’re at it, we can get our friends the help they need.” I agreed. Light suddenly erupted from Sora’s pocket, startling all of us. He pulled out his membership card, which was now glowing with light. And then the tip of his keyblade started glowing, too. It took just a moment before it clicked - this was a connection. A gateway to a tie between two worlds.

“That looks like what Yen Sid was talking about earlier!” Donald said before I could. “Go unlock it, Sora! Wherever the pathway leads us next will probably give us a clue.”

“Got it.” Sora said, before proceeding to do just that, a crown of light erupting from under his feet as a keyhole appeared in the sky. Sora raised the Kingdom Key, and a beam of light shot from his keyblade, unlocking the keyhole.

The committee membership card...I wonder what world was tied to Hollow Bastion in that way. I guess I’d be finding out shortly.

“You guys be careful out there. Organization Thirteen...that battle was brief, but it was enough to know they’re tough.” Squall warned us.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.” Sora assured him. “We’ve beaten some of their members before. All of us, we’re together in one large group - there’s six of us, and seven of them. They don't have the advantage of numbers, and we’ll be growing stronger as we go. Whatever havoc they’re planning to let loose on the worlds, we won’t let it happen.” he finished, eyes hard with determination.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Squall said, giving Sora a nod. “Though...you guys have been going since you got up, haven’t you?” At our confused looks, he just gave a little chuckle. “I’m used to the antics of your three friends here. It’s not much, but we’ve got an inn up and running here. You might want to get a good rest before charging off into the next world.” He advised. 

“Heheheh, yeeeaaaahh...don’t wanna repeat that.” Sora said sheepishly. 

“Oh? Sounds like there’s a story there.” Kairi said teasingly. 

“One that can wait! I’m bushed.” Donald said, before turning to Squall. “Can you show us the way?”

“Sure. Follow me.” The man said, before leading us away from the bailey and back to the town proper. He stopped in front of a large building, helpfully labeled ‘Shady Rest B&B’. “Maurice’ll be happy to put you up for the night. We’ve still got folks who we don’t have houses rebuilt for yet, so the place is a bit busy.” Squall explained. 

“Got it. Thanks Squall.” I said honestly. He just gave a small smile in response. 

“Of course. Take care of yourselves.” He said, before turning and leaving, headed back in the direction of the committee’s base of operations, I was pretty sure. 

“Well, I for one am looking forward to this. Never been to a B&B before, whatever that is.” Branwen admitted. 

“It’s short for bread and breakfast.” I explained as he entered the establishment. “You stay for the night and eat breakfast in the morning before heading out.”

“Oh. Cool.” Branwen said, looking around curiously. 

“Oho! Here to rent a few rooms for the night?” A portly man asked, a jovial expression on his face. “Call me Maurice! Everyone does.”

“Why, sure. I’m Goofy, and this is Donald, Sora, Riku, Branwen, and Kairi.” Goofy said, introducing us in turn. 

“Pleased to meet you all! Hmm, let’s see...with the lady getting a room to herself, that leaves you five gents with the option of splitting two rooms between you or all holing up in one room. And lemme tell you, I’d take the former option, and not just cause it’s good business for me! Five to a room can be a bit crowded, you see.” Maurice added conspiratorially in a whisper. 

I couldn’t help but laugh. “How much for three rooms for a night?”

“Why, all together that would be 900 munny! But I’ll let you stay on the house just this once. Least I can do for the people who saved the worlds!” Maurice declared. 

“Aw yeah! Celebrity treatment!” Donald crowed. 

“Thanks for this, Maurice!” Sora beamed. Maurice just laughed in response. 

“No need for thanks! Just keep coming back if you like the service; having the resident heroes booking rooms in my hotel on a regular basis is the best kind of advertisement I can get.” The man said. 

“Isn’t this the only inn in the city though?” Branwen asked, a little confused. 

“Sure is! But as we get things going on getting our world back together, it won’t be for long. There’s always plenty of folks needing rest and recovery. So the sooner I establish my reputation as a good establishment the better. Hence the advertisement. Plus I cook a mean stew.” Maurice laughed, before reaching into a drawer in his counter and pulling out labeled keys. “Here’s the keys to your rooms; please remember to turn them back in before leaving or heroes or not I’ll thump your heads.” 

“Duly noted.” I laughed, taking the keys and looking them over. “Looks like we’re in rooms 201, 203, and 204 tonight. Here’s yours Kairi.” I said, plopping one into her hands. “Now, how are we splitting up?”

“Why don’t Donald and I share one, and you three share the other?” Goofy suggested. 

“What-?” Sora started, but was interrupted by Branwen. 

“Great idea! Let’s go guys!” He cheered, grabbing a key out of my hands and racing up the stairs. 

“Well someone’s excited.” Kairi laughed. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

“Yeah. See you later.” Donald agreed, taking the last key from my hands. 

“Yeah. Hopefully Branwen remembers that we need the key to get in too.” I chuckled. Sora’s eyes widened. 

“Oh no - he better not lock us out!” He yelped, before racing up the stairs. 

“Wait for me!” I called, before running up after him. Worst case scenario Branwen gets overexcited and we need to ask Maurice to use the spare key to let us in. Either way, I was glad to be with everyone again.

I’d missed them terribly, ever since we were separated at zero hour. Hollow Bastion didn’t count, that hadn’t been for very long and I hadn’t even been in control of my body for Kairi. And, and after losing my parents again, I…I was all the more relieved to have them back.

~*~

Turns out, Branwen didn’t actually know that we couldn’t get in without the key, so after a lot of knocking, and some shouting through the door, he let us in and then fell over himself apologizing for accidentally locking us out. 

“So, who’s getting the single bed?” He asked, happy to change the topic. 

“You are. Riku and I don’t mind sharing the pull-out couch.” Sora explained. 

“Right, you guys slept in piles a lot. Um, can...can I join you?” Branwen asked hesitantly. Sora and I shared a glance. 

“Uh...I mean, I don’t see why not.” I said after a moment, a little thrown. “What about you Sora?”

“I’m cool with it.” Sora agreed. Branwen pumped a fist into the air. 

“Yes!” He cheered, before his face heated up in embarrassment. “S-sorry. I’m just...that’s what I’m used to, you know? From Riku. So I...sorry if I came across as, I don’t know. Weird.” He apologized. “I just didn’t know if you guys would want me barging in on that or not.”

Oh. Oh. Now I felt like a jerk for not realizing that. I mean honestly, I knew he had my memories, why wouldn’t he have echoes of my comforts too?

“When you put it like that, how can we say no?” Sora said, giving him a grin before putting his hands back behind his head. “Now I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready to sleep for a week.”

“You’ve been sleeping for months!” I couldn’t help but point out. Sora just laughed and waved me off. 

“That doesn’t count, I was recovering!” He said. “And speaking of which, I get first dibs on the bathroom, cause I haven’t gone in months and I really need to go!”

I was too busy laughing fit to burst to be able to make any kind of coherent response to that. 

Chapter Text

Maurice wasn’t kidding - he really did make a good stew. And seemed just as excited as us that we’d had a good time in his B&B. I was glad Branwen had enjoyed himself as well. For all that he and the others had gotten to hang with the Twilight Town gang, we hadn’t really been able to risk leaving the mansion outside of direct necessity due to the risk of being spotted by members of the Organization. Especially since we had it direct from Roxas and Zion that they liked to spend their free time there. So this was Branwen’s first chance to actually be able to experience things outside of my memories of Destiny Islands. 

Once we’d had our fill and turned in our keys, we headed back to our ship to make our way to the world newly opened to us. And in all honesty, the one we traveled to was not one I expected. Then again, the connection of restoration honestly could’ve applied to a lot of worlds. But Beast’s Castle? What was it that we needed to do here?

“Hey, what is this place?” Sora asked. Wait, he hadn’t been here before? Huh.

“It’s huge!” Donald said, gaping at our surroundings.

“Well, it’s definitely a castle of some kind. Wonder who lives here?” I asked, pretending I was just as clueless as everyone else.

“Guess we’ll find out. After all, that connection had to have led us here for a reason.” Kairi pointed out.

“Gawrsh, that sure is true.” Goofy nodded, before frowning. “It’s rather gloomy here, don’t you think? Maybe that connection was anchored to your membership card because this place needs help like Hollow Bastion does.”

“That’s definitely a possibility.” Branwen acknowledged. 

“Hey, you two. What was with the dark magic earlier?” Donald suddenly asked us. Branwen and I looked at each other, confused, before turning our attention back to Donald.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It’s dark magic! Where did you even learn it?” he asked.

“Uh, trial and error basically.” Branwen replied. “Riku and I both utilize our darkness in battle, and honestly it only makes sense to apply that to magic as well. Only, well, it’s not like there’s anyone we can learn from, so we’ve just kinda been figuring it out as we go. We’re starting with the dark versions of the Basic Three, and now that we’ve got that down - or mostly got that down-” Branwen said, shooting me an amused look, to which I just rolled my eyes. Stupid Dark Thunder. “-we’re going to be trying to get Dark Aero figured out next, once we’ve learned Aero that is.” 

At that Branwen paused, frowning as something occurred to him. “I don’t even know if Reflect counts as light or dark...something to look into when we learn it.” Branwen finished as he pulled out his notepad and began scribbling the idea down, to be revisited when we were back on the Gummi Ship and had the time to experiment. 

Our knowledge of magic was pretty basic at the moment, but I planned to ask Donald to teach us whenever we were in between worlds once we were back on the Gummi Ship. I’d meant to ask earlier, but I’d honestly forgotten in the wake of my- of my parents having died, and then the excitement of flying through freaking space, excuse me for being a little distracted when it was literally freaking space we were flying through!

“Gawrsh, are you two sure it’s safe?” Goofy asked as Branwen wrote, concerned. I smiled at him.

“Yeah, it is. It’s not much different from light spells. We just use the other half of our heart to do it. It’s just another set of tools to use in defense of the worlds.” I said.

“Ah. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around that, honestly. That darkness can be used to defend the worlds, not just destroy them.” Donald admitted.

“I can get that. Especially since all the other darkness users we’ve run into have had more than a few screws loose.” Branwen said, chuckling a little at that as he tucked his notepad safely away. “But it's just that, a tool. I mean, King Mickey is a powerful user of light, and he uses that light to defend the worlds. But back in Castle Oblivion, Zexion used the same light to try and destroy Riku. It’s not light and dark, but how we use them that determines if they’re good or bad.” Branwen finished.

“That’s a good point, ah-hyuck.” Goofy nodded. “You an’ Riku are using the darkness for good, while Ansem and Maleficent used them for evil things. Gawrsh, even those Organization folks are using the darkness for no good - just look at the dark pathways they were using to get around!”

“It’s still a weird concept to think about. But I’ll get used to it.” Donald said, which actually warmed my heart, that he was willing to be open-minded about this. Especially since it ran against everything he knew. Donald turned to look at Sora then, before asking, “Does that mean you’re gonna be learning dark magic, too?”

“Huh. That’s a good question.” Sora said, before looking at Branwen and I. “Can I?”

“Sora, you have all the darkness of a teaspoon.” Kairi interjected dryly.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” He asked her.

“Well, Riku and Branwen use their darkness to power their dark spells. And we know Branwen’s are stronger, because he has more darkness and a stronger affinity to it than Riku. Which means for you...Sora, your heart was strong enough to create a Nobody, but your Heartless was a Shadow.” She reminded him. “I don’t think you’ve got anywhere near enough darkness to cast dark magic.”

“Aww.” Sora drooped. Kairi just giggled at him.

“Hey, don’t worry, I can’t either. Princess of Heart, remember? I’ve got even less darkness than you, which is to say none.” She pointed out. 

“Yeah, that’s true.” Sora said, perking up a bit. “And that’s okay, isn’t it? I mean, Donald’s great at magic, Goofy is an amazing defender, Riku takes advantage of light and dark, and even Branwen has turned darkness into an ally. We’ve got each other’s backs, you know? Where one of us might be weak, everyone else can cover for that.”

“You betcha!” Donald grinned at him. “Three half pints - and I guess three more - make a whole!” He chuckled at the joke, Sora and Goofy snickering along with him. 

“...Half pints?” Kairi asked. Sora just scratched his head sheepishly. 

“It's an inside joke. That we may not measure up alone, but together we can take on anything.” He explained. Branwen grinned in response. 

“I’m down with that. Six half pints to make a greater whole.”

The sudden shaking of the floor beneath our feet and the distant roar of a beast interrupted us, breaking the moment.

“Okay, what was that?” I asked. Wait, wasn’t Xaldin doing crap here at some point? To Beast? Trying to turn him into a Heartless, if I remember correctly. Great. 

“Wait a minute...that’s the Beast!” Sora breathed. 

“Who’s that?” Kairi asked. 

“Someone who helped Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I against Maleficent.” I explained. 

“He sure did. You think he’s in trouble?” Goofy asked.

“Well he sounded pretty mad to me! We better find out what’s going on here.” Donald replied. As though to underscore his point, another floor-shaking roar echoed through the antechamber.

“Look there! Heartless!” Branwen said, materializing Midnight Blue to point towards the Shadow scampering through the floor, only for it to pop out and rush into one of the doors on the right side of the grand entry hall.

“What are we waiting for?” Kairi asked, before leading the charge into the room. Except, when we got inside, there wasn’t any sign of the Shadow we’d chased in here.

“Where’d it go?” Donald wondered as I looked aro- oh. Oh frick.

The rose. And that was Donald approaching iiiiit-!

“Wha-?!” Donald yelped as I frantically grabbed his shoulder and yanked him away from the rose, dragging him several steps back for good measure. “Riku! What are you doing?!” He demanded as he yanked his shoulder free from my grasp, scowling at me. Thankfully I was saved from fumbling to explain by the Shadow materializing from the floor directly in front of the table.

“Looks like Riku found it.” Branwen grinned as the room suddenly rang with the sounds of our weapons materializing. As though in response, more Shadows pulled themselves from the floor, surrounding us.

“Come and get it.” Kairi scowled, staff at the ready. A single charged moment hung in the air, before everything exploded into motion. I cut through a Shadow, my keyblade igniting with light before I swung it to fire off a Skyward Strike (yes, I’m a nut, we’ve been over this) at my next targets, Donald taking the opportunity to blast another group with an Aeroaga from beside me. 

First thing I did from there was position myself between the Heartless and the table holding the rose in the corner of the room, not wanting to risk them potentially knocking over and shattering the container. That would be bad. Especially if the rose died, if the rose died that would be catastrophically bad. So yeah, no way on this green earth was I letting that happen, even if it limited my movement. And was that-?!

“Woo, way to go Kairi!” I grinned, genuinely unable to help myself at the sight of Kairi blasting a Heartless with Fire before hitting another with her staff hard enough to send it flying into the wall, like it was a baseball bat and the Shadow was the ball. It was hilarious.

“Thanks!” Kairi grinned, before her expression turned horrified and a Shadow latched onto my head. I yelped, blasting it forcefully off my head despite its claws digging into my scalp with a point blank Thunder, since hitting it with my keyblade was an obvious no-go, I’d just hit myself in the head. I mentally slapped myself up the head as it died for my stupidity. Note to self, stop getting distra- no!

I threw a Fire at the Shadow sneaking up on Branwen, getting his attention even as the ones in front of him died to a Dark Thunder. 

“Thanks!” Branwen said, before stopping another Shadow from attacking him with a well-placed strike from Midnight Blue, a concussive wave of darkness radiating from the impact point. I slid back into the moment as well, focused on not letting the Heartless past my guard. I lunged a step forward with Midnight Blue to eviscerate a Heartless, before turning a step to the side and raising my keyblade to the heavens, a ring of light exploding around me and wiping out the surrounding Shadows. 

As the battle progressed, I noticed everyone gradually shifting more and more over toward me until all of us were facing the Heartless with the rose table at our backs.

“Do you guys normally fight this many Heartless at once?” Kairi asked, a little short for breath.

“No, we don’t.” Donald said grumpily. “Stupid Heartless, just do us all a favor and-”

However he was going to finish that, I could only guess - though I had a pretty good guess - because the Beast chose that moment to slam the doors open, eyes widening before narrowing in rage. He gave a roar as he stepped into the room, Shadows dying against sharp claws and brutal throws.

“Beast, good to see you!” I cheered, getting back to the task of killing Heartless with a vengeance. Similarly reenergized, my friends and family did the same until finally, no more Shadows were peeling themselves off the floor.

“Finally. I thought that was never gonna end.” Donald complained. “Even Shadows are a pain in numbers like that.”

“Pretty good for my first fight, right?” Kairi asked us, looking proud and a little hesitant. “At least against Heartless I mean. With an actual weapon.”

“You were amazing, Kairi!” Sora cheered as I gave her a small grin.

“He’s right. And you’ll only get better over time.” I agreed. 

“Thanks for the help. You’re Beast, right?” Branwen asked as the Beast approached us. He didn’t respond - and then swung out to hit Branwen in the chest with his arm, sending him flying back from the table with a yelp.

“Branwen!” I shouted in concern, flat out abandoning the rose in favor of my brother.

“I’m alright, just a little winded.” He assured me before the sound of another meaty smack heralded the screaming of more of our friends being sent flying.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?!” Sora yelled from where he and Kairi were helping Donald and Goofy off the floor. The Beast didn’t even bother answering, just picked up the glass container with the rose, holding it almost reverently. Then, without a word, he simply walked back out of the room, leaving us behind.

Uhhh…okay, then?

“What was that about?” Branwen asked, bewildered.

“I don’t know. He wasn’t like that at all back in Hollow Bastion!” Sora said, before his eyes widened. “Wait, where’s Belle? He came to Hollow Bastion to find her, but I haven’t seen her anywhere!”

“It’s a big castle, Sora. She could be anywhere in here.” I pointed out. “But you’re right. He’s definitely not acting the same.”

“You think it has something to do with that rose?” Kairi asked.

“Maybe…” Goofy said, mulling over the idea.

“What if it’s controlling him?! You saw how he was with it - we have to destroy it!” Sora suddenly announced, deadly serious-

“No!!” I shouted in a half-strangled sounding voice, immediately getting everyone’s bewildered and alarmed attention. “No, no what if it’s something important, like, like a magical power source shielding some part of the castle? If you had something like that in a room that just got attacked by Heartless you’d move it too, right?”

“That’s true…” Donald conceded, which made sense . Disney Castle has something like that, so no way would he and Goofy risk potentially bringing someone else’s protection down. Whew. Heart attack averted.

“So then what are we going to do?” Kairi asked.

“If he and Belle are as close as you say, then she should know what’s going on, right?” Branwen pointed out. “The Beast might not be willing to talk, but maybe she will.”

“That’s a good idea. And maybe she can tell us what’s been going on with the Heartless here too.” Sora agreed.

“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded. Right, so Xaldin had been doing crap with the Beast, though whether that was before or after the Battle of a Thousand Heartless I had no idea. Either way, Beast had been alone so maybe we’d gotten here before him?

~*~

The downside of being here in the actual, real life Beast’s Castle? It was huge.

“Ugh, this is taking forever.” I grumbled quietly to myself, though evidently not quietly enough as Kairi overheard and started giggling at me.

“Shh!” Sora said, turning back to face us with a finger to his lips. We winced. And as we apologized, we heard it - the sound of a woman’s voice coming from behind the double doors on one side of the hallway we were quietly making our way through.

“Oh, what am I going to do?” My ears proverbially pricked up as my mind went aha! - because even though it had been at least a decade and a half, I still recognized the voice of one of my favorite Disney Princesses. 

Yeah, I like Beauty and the Beast, shut up. It’s a million times better than Snow White.  

“Think we sho- Donald!!” Sora yelped as Donald literally charged the doors, collapsing face-first onto the unforgiving floor as they flew open underneath him. Luckily the stone floor was covered with rugs or that would’ve sucked a lot more than it already did.

“Hey, who opened the door?!” Donald demanded, pushing himself up.

“I think you did, Donald.” Branwen snickered, to which Donald responded by giving him a look that had a sarcastic ‘very funny’ written all over it. 

“Seriously though, how long has it been since those rugs were last dusted?” I asked Belle, morbidly curious because dang, that had been a literal dust cloud Donald had kicked up just from hitting the floor.

“A really long time.” Belle giggled - and being in front of her like this, my nose confirmed what I already knew: she was no longer a Princess of Heart. I had a theory on why Kairi had been able to hang on to her piece while the other six hadn’t, namely her accidental Bequeathing, but it was just that: a theory. I didn’t actually know for sure. 

Belle moved over, picking Donald up off the floor to give him a delighted hug. “I’m so happy you’re here! It’s so good to see you all again.” She said, before looking over at Branwen and I. “I know Sora, Donald, Kairi, and Goofy already, but not you two. What are your names?” She asked, still holding a struggling Donald.

“I’m Branwen, and this is my twin brother Riku.” Branwen introduced us. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Belle. It’s nice to meet you too.” Belle grinned, before Donald got over his sputtering enough to actually form coherent sentences amid his frantic but fruitless struggling.

“Put me down! Put me down!” He demanded, to which Belle did.

“Oh, sorry. I was just so excited to see you all again.” she apologized.

“It’s okay.” Donald said, straightening his jacket. “So, what’s going on here?”

“You guys might want to come inside for that.” Belle said, inviting us into the room. “It’s not safe to have the doors open for long.” As Kairi closed the doors behind us, we gathered around Belle to hear what the former Princess of Heart had to say.

“I...after everything that went down a year ago, things went back to normal. Everything was fine until recently, when Beast suddenly started acting strange. He’s locked up all the others living here in the undercroft, and I- he hasn’t been listening to me at all!” Belle suddenly broke down into tears. “I, I don’t understand wh-what’s been going on lately! I-it’s like I’ve lost him!”

Those last words tore a phantom hole into my heart as I stepped up with Kairi to try to comfort her. I hesitated briefly, on whether hugging her or not was okay, before throwing all hesitation out the window and hugging her anyway. Strangers we may be but hugs had always helped me. And Belle clearly needed the comfort, if the way she hugged me back was of any indication.

“It’ll be alright. We’ll find out what’s going on with him.” Kairi promised.

“That’s right! Don’t worry Belle, we’ll get everybody freed before you know it.” Goofy chimed in. Belle let go, straightening up and wiping at her eyes.

“You will? Thank you.” She said gratefully, giving us all a watery smile. “I’ve tried going myself, but there’ve been Heartless all over, so I had to hole up in here. I haven’t been able to see if they’re alright.”

“We’ll make sure they’re okay.” Branwen told her. “Can you tell us the way to the undercroft?”

“Or better yet, why don’t you come with us?” I asked. “That way you can see that they’re alright for yourself.”

“Really? Thanks. I appreciate it.” Belle said gratefully. We left the room, making sure to close the doors behind us, before following Belle over towards the west wing. She turned into another hall, opening the door and leading us inside. Only…

“Is that a wardrobe?” Kairi asked, confused at the rather out of place piece of furniture, before shrieking as the wardrobe in question moved, yawning and opening her eyes before they widened in surprise.

“Oh dear me! That was quite the surprise! Oh, and Belle! It’s good to see you’re alright! But, what are you all doing here?” she asked.

“We need to get down to the Undercroft to rescue everyone.” Sora explained. The wardrobe - and jeez, what was her name again? Did she even have a name? - frowned.

“Well I...no, go ahead.” she said, before moving aside. “Any friends of Belle are friends of mine. And to be quite frank, there is definitely something up with how the master has been behaving recently. If you can figure it out, we would all be in your debt.” she said.

“We will.” Branwen promised, before we all descended down the stairs. We emerged into a dusty stone room, with bookshelves and various scattered furniture and what looked like giant rolled up scrolls of paper.

“Huh. This is not what I was expecting.” I commented.

“Well, only one way forward.” Donald said, before going over to the double doors. He leaned his weight against them to push, only for bright purple energy to appear. Donald yelped, quickly backpedaling as the energy swiftly coated the doors, turning what was once stone into flesh and blood Heartless.

“What on earth is that?!” Branwen shouted, all of us pulling out our weapons. 

“A Heartless!” Donald told him.

“I know that!” Branwen retorted, frustrated. “I mean what kind of Heartless fuses to a door like that?!”

The two heads of the Heartless in question roared, and they (Thresholder) slammed their hands together. They- wait, Thresholder? Where’d that come from?

Kairi raised her staff, a determined look on her face. “If it's a Heartless, then we can kill it. Belle, stay back! We’ll get rid of this thing and get everyone out!” she stated, and then we went on the offensive. The nice thing about this fight was that the Heartless was quite literally stuck to the door, so it made both keeping Belle out of the danger zone and fighting it easy. Kairi and Donald hung back, blasting it with magic, while Sora and Goofy went in for physical blows, my little brother’s keyblade lighting up before unleashing a flurry of blows within a few seconds. 

Branwen and I for our part went back and forth as needed, switching from magic to physical damage when our mana stores ran low and getting back out of range when said stores refilled. The two of us having non-magical ranged options helped too - I saw Branwen slam his foot onto the ground, a wave of darkness shooting forward to hit the animated statues like a freight train. 

Finally, the thing died, the Heartless almost seeming to crumble as it petrified, before a tiny little cloud I immediately recognized as a possessor fell out of the stone statues, trembling in the air before bursting into smoke. Turning back to the door revealed the stone statues that had been possessed were fading into darkness, leaving just a double door behind.

“I...what was that?” Belle asked, stunned. “That Heartless was so small.”

“A possessor. They ain’t much on their own, but when they’ve got something to take over like those statues then they sure are nasty business.” Goofy explained. “That one, Thresholder, was strong enough to count as a boss Heartless.”

“A- wait, Thresholder? How’d you- what?” I stammered, bewildered. “How’d you know to call it that?” I finally managed to get out. 

“Oh that? That’s one of the hallmarks of a boss-class Heartless - everyone knows its name. Nobody knows why, but you just do.” Donald explained. Huh. 

Sora frowned, dematerializing his keyblade. “Wonder what that was doing there, if the Beast was the one to lock everyone in.” He mused. “I mean, he was fighting the Heartless earlier, so he clearly isn’t using them.”

“You’re right, that is weird.” Donald agreed. He stepped forward and opened the doors, revealing what was clearly a disused storage room of some kind, with hay in all corners and a box and two chairs at the back. A box and two chairs that had three - nope, four, that was little Chip - very recognizable people on top of them.

“Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip!” Belle called out with a relieved smile on her face. “You’re alright!”

“Belle!” the group chorused, abandoning their pretense of being mere inanimate objects to hop down to where Belle stood. While everyone save Donald followed her lead and squatted to be closer to their height, I simply sat down on the floor.

“This is Riku, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Sora, and Branwen.” Belle said, pointing to introduce everyone in turn. “They helped me get to you.”

“You did? Then we are quite in your debt.” Cogsworth said.

“Why, any friends of Belle are friends of ours!” Lumiere said with a dramatic bow. Belle just chuckled in response, a hand over her mouth.

“I’m glad to see you’re alright.” she said.

“No no, it is we who are overjoyed to see you!” Lumiere protested. “Ever since the master took a turn for the worst, why, things have been quite the mess.”

“I honestly thought he was getting better, with you...but at this rate, he’ll never break the curse.” Mrs. Potts said mournfully.

“Curse? What curse?” Branwen asked. The entire group looked shocked. 

“What, you do not know?” Lumiere asked. “Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, and I here all used to be human-” he said, pointing at each one of them in turn. “-and the master was the prince of the castle. But then a spell was cast on us, to turn all the servants into objects and the master into a beast.”

“It was on a cold winter’s night, when a beggar woman came to the castle. She begged for shelter, offering but a single rose in payment. Our master refused, and then the woman revealed herself for what she was - a beautiful and powerful enchantress. The prince rushed to apologize, but it was too late. She cursed him, and us, as well as the castle and surrounding land.” Mrs. Potts explained.

“Only if he falls in love, and is loved in return, can the curse be broken.” Cogsworth continued. “But he must do it before the rose loses all its petals, or the curse will remain forever!”

“The ro-” Sora froze mid-word, turning white as a sheet as he remembered how he’d wanted to destroy it earlier, in his mistaken belief that it was controlling his friend. I patted him on the shoulder in reassurance.

“Hey, it’s alright. The rose is safe.” I reminded him.

“Y-yeah, you’re right.” Sora said, before giving me a smile.

“Wait, what’s this about the rose?!” Belle demanded in a panic.

“Heartless went after it, but we stopped them. The Beast came and took the rose somewhere else after that.” Branwen explained.

“I see. I suppose we owe you our thanks twice over.” Cogsworth said, before bowing in appreciation.

“I-it’s alright, we just did what anyone would do.” Kairi said. “And now that you’re safe, we should go check on the Beast.”

“Well, we know this castle better than anyone!” Lumiere bragged, making Belle giggle. “We can show you the way.”

“Gosh, thank you.” Goofy said.

“Nonsense, it’s the least we can do after all your help.” Mrs. Potts said dismissively, Lumiere hopping off the chair. “Now come along, the master’s likely in his chambers. This way.” 

Following their lead, it didn’t take us long to reach the Beast’s room. And there he wa- oh frick that was Xaldin with him, arghh! Come on!

“-could ever love a beast? Xaldin was saying, and as I was blinking away the double image of Xaldin and Gaston the Beast whirled around on him with a roar of rage.

“Get away from him!” Belle shouted, hands clenched into fists.

“See? She has accomplices.” Xaldin commented, clearly talking about us.

“Shove off. You’re the one hurting him.” I growled.

“Am I?” he asked, before disappearing into a Corridor. I blinked, surprised at the sudden retreat.

“Bea- or no, prince? Are you alright?” Kairi asked as we came toward him. That stopped immediately when he roared in primal fury, shaking the very floor we stood on. 

“Oh no, master!” Cogsworth yelped. Wild-eyed, and giving no indication that he’d heard him, the Beast lunged at Kairi, who was quick to dodge out of the way of his powerful clawed swipe.

“Beast?! What’s going on with you?!” Belle shouted in horror.

“That Organization dude did something! We might have to knock him out.” I said, summoning Midnight Blue. “Stay back with the others!” The Beast only gave another roar in response to this, before going on the attack again.

~*~

That fight sucked. Beast hit like the Hulk - I felt like Loki after that beatdown at the end of the Avengers. Everything hurt. I did not need to know how Maleficent must’ve felt when we fought her back on Hollow Bastion, ugh. 

Beast was on his knees, one hand on the ground and the other holding his head. I took the time to cast Cure on myself, easing my pain. He looked up at Cogsworth, his eyes no longer wild.

“Cogsworth? What happened?” he asked as he got to his feet, confused. Did he not remember? He must not, or he wouldn’t be asking, right?

“Well master...ah, you see...that is...how shall I say...ah, actually...mmm…” Cogsworth stammered, before Branwen groaned and rolled his eyes.

“For crying out loud. That Organization guy did something and you went into a blind rage and attacked us.” he said bluntly. Cogsworth winced, while the Beast just looked shocked.

“I did what?” He asked.

“You threw everyone down in the dungeon too.” Sora added.

“I...I did...wait, Organization guy? You mean...Xaldin!” Beast said, a look of dawning realization on his face. “That’s his name. The man cloaked in black. That is who you were referring to, correct?”

“Yup.” Goofy confirmed. Beast looked down, looking ashamed.

“He came from the darkness, and he...he used my anger to control me.” he snapped angrily, before looking defeated again. “He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain - and turned it all into rage. There was nothing I could do...I could no longer see the truth.” He finished mournfully.

“Well I’ll be! That must be why you threw all of your friends down there into the dungeon.” Goofy suddenly spoke up. “You wanted to make sure that you didn’t hurt ‘em, right?”

“Was that it? Was it to protect them?” Beast asked, unsure.

“You made it all the way to me on that other world.” Belle spoke up softly. “I know you’d sooner protect us from yourself than you would hurt us.”

“Yeah. We fought side by side in that castle. We know you’re a good person.” Sora said.

“Belle!” Beast said, eyes wide, before groaning as he lowered his head. “I’ve...I’ve mistreated you. Been so selfish. I’m sorry.”

“Beast, you weren’t yourself. We know that. You don’t have to apologize.” Belle told him, taking his hand.

“I…”

“I just wish you would start trusting me.” Belle huffed. “I thought after everything, at least that would have changed! But you’re just too set in your ways, aren’t you?”

Beast flinched in response to the accusation. “I...maybe you’re right. Maybe I am.”

“Oh, I am afraid time is running short.” Lumiere lamented.

“But the rose looked fine when we saw it!” Donald said.

“A rose only has so many petals, though.” Branwen frowned, looking out at the pair. “You think they’re gonna fall in love in time?”

“Well, they already like each other, we know that. And relationships aren’t so easy as simply falling in love. They have their rough patches - as you can see.” I pointed out. “So I guess it depends on if they can weather through it in time.”

“We believe he can do it.” Mrs. Potts said, nuzzling her son, Chip, in the best impression of a hug she could give in their current forms.

“Yep, I think you’re right.” Goofy agreed.

“They’re already sweet on each other...if things go well, it should deepen into love with time.” Kairi nodded.

“The question is, whether or not it’ll happen in time.” Sora sighed, only to jump as the container with the rose started glowing, floating above the table. But we’d seen this happen before back on Hollow Bastion, just with a card instead of a glass container.

“Didja find a new keyhole?” Donald asked.

“I think so…” Sora said, getting into a ready stance before raising his keyblade. As light began coalescing at its tip, a crown of light appeared underneath his feet. The keyhole appeared above the rose, and my little brother dutifully unlocked it. As it vanished, having opened a new path for us, the container stopped glowing and returned to normal.

“What was that?” Beast asked as he and Belle approached us, likely having been drawn from their argument by the flashy light show.

“The gate is open!” Donald cheered. “We can get to another world that needs our help now.”

“Do you have to go?” Belle asked us.

“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean we can’t visit, you know, once the whole threat to the worlds is taken care of.” Sora said.

“Again.” I couldn’t help but snicker, getting a sheepish laugh from my brother in response.

“We’ll escort you out.” Beast offered. “It’s the least we can do.”

“Why, that sounds like an excellent idea!” Lumiere beamed. 

“Don’t worry about us - we’ll get this mess cleaned up in no time.” Mrs. Potts told us. “So take care, dears.”

“You’re welcome here anytime!” Cogsworth announced.

“Yeah! So you gotta visit soon, that’s a promise!” Chip said.

“Now now, they’ve got things to do, Chip.” Mrs. Potts scolded her son gently. “But I’m sure when they’ve got a spare moment to check in on friends, they will.”

“You betcha.” Branwen grinned. We left the room together with Belle and the Beast, following them down along a corridor and onto the grand staircase in the entrance hall.

Of course, that’s when Xaldin showed up in a bloom of darkness from a Corridor, because noooo, of course he couldn’t just leave us alone now that we were done.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked. 

“Xaldin!” Beast snarled. “Get out of my sight before I do it for you!”

“So that’s how it is.” Xaldin mused, before a wicked smirk spread across his face. “No hard feelings here. I understand you have your own guests to entertain.”

“What?” I asked, thoroughly confused. Xaldin merely chuckled, lifting a hand - and oh come on!

“You absolute butthole!” I snarled as a gigantic ball Heartless covered in chains and an aura of blue flame appeared to answer Xaldin’s summons. The man himself just gave one last chuckle before starting to disappear back into a Corridor, and no he was not getting away this time eat Thunder!

The yelp of shock even as the Corridor vanished made me feel a lot better about the situation.

The ball Heartless (Shadow Stalker) roared, drawing my attention back to it as it bolted right for Belle, who shrieked and ran back into the ballroom. To this thing there was a veritable feast in front of it - multiple keybearers and a Princess of Heart, all in one spot. 

“GET AWAY FROM HER!!” Beast roared, racing forward on all fours before leaping onto Shadow Stalker, buying Belle the time she needed to slip out the door on the other side of the room. Hissing, Shadow Stalker finally managed to throw Beast off, and turned its attention to the rest of us, Belle thankfully forgotten. And why wouldn’t she be, with all these keybearers plus Kairi in front of it? Shadow Stalker took the opportunity to dive into the floor, darkness spreading out from where it disappeared.

“Please tell me it’s not possessing the floor!” Branwen shouted frantically. I raised Midnight Blue to fire off a ring of light in hopes of at least repelling it, but to no avail. We all tried to backpedal from the darkness, but it was no use. The darkness under our feet didn’t seem to be doing anything - yet - so we ignored it for now in favor of the bigger threat. 

Shadow Stalker took the opportunity to emerge from the ground, then, roaring as the darkness climbed the walls and spread across the ceiling. Its reek of darkness filled the room, leaving us in an arena of shadows with only the candles lighting the room untouched.

We moved, Donald and Kairi hanging back to provide magical assault while the rest of us charged in to engage Shadow Stalker in melee combat. The thing really did not like the Beast; then again, when I was getting clotheslined by that arm and sent flying into a wall I didn’t like it either.

“Dark Fire!” Branwen shouted, a gout of flame shooting from Midnight Blue and setting Shadow Stalker ablaze. Shrieking, the now-flaming Heartless flailed about, and for Beast’s sake I doused the thing with a Blizzard so he didn’t get accidentally lit on fire. The fact that it also dealt more damage to the ball Heartless was just a bonus.

Shadow Stalker took the opportunity to jump into the wall before it shot out bursts of flame in a line from said wall. I yelped as I narrowly avoided getting toasted despite jumping aside. 

The Heartless shot up toward the ceiling, slipping into the chandelier before bringing it crashing down onto the floor, lasers of electricity shooting out from two sides as the thing spun in a circle like a demented fairground game. 

Thankfully, it was moving kinda slow, so beating up the chandelier wasn’t so hard. Unfortunately, that just sent the thing out to go possess some of the pillars in the room instead. Pillars that then tried to spear us like butterflies on a collector’s board. I hated those things. 

And of course, it went right back to the chandelier to drop it down again. 

Right, it was official. I hated possessors with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. 

“Someone kill that chandelier!” I snapped as I spun on my heel and threw myself forward, tucking into a roll to avoid getting electrocuted. No thanks. 

Beast went for it, leaping onto the rings of metal and began hacking away at it. Thankfully, Shadow Stalker was not as tough as steel, and after a few such hits bounced out of the chandelier, the metal links rattling as the abused light fixture was yanked right back up to the roof again, the Heartless changing courses in favor of bouncing toward Sora with deadly intent. 

Right, no, that thing had to go. It might be a boss mechanic in the game but this wasn’t a game. 

I turned and pointed my keyblade straight up, and shouted “Fire!” as I cast, the fireball striking the metal and making the thing swing. No good. Wait-!

“Donald! When that thing gets in the chandelier bring it down!”

“Whaaaa?!”

“Just do it!” I insisted, twisting to avoid getting hit by the Heartless pretending to be a wrecking ball and taking Midnight Blue to its hide in return. “Trust me!”

Thankfully, Donald did. After a few minutes, Shadow Stalker once again bolted for the chandelier, only Donald was armed and ready to cast. 

“Graviga!” With that, the chandelier came crashing down, the sound of metal snapping heralding its arrival before it hit the ground, hard, Shadow Stalker popping out of it clearly dazed. Without the Heartless unnaturally extending the chain, it had snapped under the gravity of Donald’s spell and sent the whole thing crashing to impact with the ground. 

With a whoop, my friends and I took the opportunity to rush in with a vengeance, and somehow it ended up where Sora and Beast were literally volleying the thing between them, and taking great pleasure in it. Grinning, I knocked the Heartless back towards either Sora or the Beast with my keyblade should it look like either one wouldn’t catch it in an attack, keeping it away from the pillars and walls.

Branwen burst out laughing. “This is great!” he cheered, getting the idea and moving to the other side to cover the potential escape avenue that way. And really, it was. It was entirely ridiculous and we all couldn’t help but laugh even though this was a powerful Heartless we were fighting against; it was just too dang funny seeing the thing getting bounced around between six different people to take seriously.

Finally, Shadow Stalker growled, spasming in what appeared to be its death throes as it lost the momentum to be juggled, bouncing onto the floor. We all knew the thing wasn’t finished yet as soon as it roared out as dark purple tendrils burst from its mouth, wrapping it until it mimicked a ball of yarn - or at least one seeping darkness - before bursting from its cocoon, in the shape of a maned beast with wrists and ankles shackled together. Dark Thorn, I suddenly knew. Time for stage two then. And this thing wasn’t in a shape to be juggled.

Actually…

“Time to hit a birdie!” I cheered, before ducking and blasting Dark Thorn with a Blizzard in its abdomen, knocking it off its feet and a little bit into the air.

“Haha! Thunder!” Kairi cheered, knocking Dark Thorn back toward Beast, the thing spasming with the blast.

Unfortunately, this just pissed the thing off. Having landed short of Beast, Dark Thorn roared and took a swipe at Sora, who had gone in to knock it back with his keyblade, sending him flying into the wall.

“Sora!” I shouted, icy cold clarity hitting me like a bucket of ice water. This wasn’t a game; this was a life or death battle and I needed to remember that.

“I’m okay!” Sora shouted, getting to his feet as I whirled back around to see - nothing?

Wait nuggets this thing goes invisible!

“I can smell you!” Beast roared - and so could I, I realized - before lunging at a patch of empty air; empty air which just so happened to hold an invisible Heartless. 

“Nice one!” Sora cheered as he closed in and activated his flurry rush - because that’s really what it was - striking the monster several times in quick succession with light attacks. Beast let loose with an even more impressive roar, jumping on Dark Thorn’s back and holding on as he delivered clawed swipe after clawed swipe into its hide. Kairi and Donald started directing their magical attacks at the thing’s front, keeping it distracted from simply going after Beast as it had to deal with attacks on two sides.

Make that three - Sora and I lunged in to attack Dark Thorn’s side, which put me in the perfect position to see Branwen shoot a Dark Blizzard to hit the thing right in the butt. I laughed, taking the opportunity to knock the Heartless’s leg out from under it, sending the monster crashing down onto the floor, leaving it pinned beneath Beast’s weight.

The combined assault proved too much for it, and Dark Thorn stopped fighting back, instead shaking underneath Beast’s weight, white cracks beginning to appear on its body. Being no fool, he jumped back, leaving the Heartless to lift its head and roar its death knell. The cracks spiderwebbed across its body, white light glowing stronger and stronger before bursting out of it, reducing Dark Thorn to nothing but sparkling mist and smoke. It vanished, as though it never were, and the great hall returned to normal.

“Yes!”

“We did it!” Donald and Sora cheered, Kairi and I sharing a relieved laugh. “Though I could use a potion.” Sora admitted sheepishly. I just pulled one out and handed it to him with a smile, watching the glass shimmer and vanish in my little brother’s hands as soon as it emptied into his mouth. So that’s how it worked…

Meanwhile, Branwen had made his way over to the ballroom doors and proceeded to yank them open.

“It’s safe to come out now Belle!” he grinned. Belle happily came back into the ballroom from outside, clearly glad to see that we were okay.

“You’re all right! I’m so glad.” Belle smiled, before her expression turned to worry. “That man...what did he want here? With you?”

“Well, he’s a member of Organization XIII. They’re a group of Nobodies, with a capital N, a new threat to the worlds.” Branwen said. “Short version is, they’re what happens when a person with a strong heart loses it: their spirit and body continue on without it. And the Organization has control over all of them, much like how Ansem had control over all the Heartless.”

“That’s right. And they were gonna make Beast into a Heartless.” Goofy announced, getting a surprised look from me.

“Wait, what makes you say that?” I asked curiously. I mean I knew that but how’d he make that leap of logic?

“Well, since the Beast has a strong heart, that means they’d get his Nobody too, and then they’d have control over both of them.” he explained and oh. Yeah, that made sense.

“I won’t let that happen!” Belle growled, clearly incensed by the idea. Sora beamed at her in response.

“That’s the spirit!” he cheered, before putting both hands back behind his head. “And now that you know to be on the lookout for that guy, he won’t be able to manipulate you like that again.”

“Yeah. And if that Xaldin guy comes back, make sure to punch him in the gut for us.” I grinned. Beast smirked at the idea.

“You can count on it.” he agreed.

“Okay, see you later!” Kairi said, all of us waving goodbye. And with that, we turned to head out of the castle, and back to the gummi ship. Another world awaited us.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Donald.” I said as Donald made for the driver’s seat. “Sorry to interrupt, but can Goofy drive this time? We all need your help with something.”

“Oh yeah, sure.” Donald said, before turning to shout toward where his friend sat beside Sora, “Hey, Goofy! You’re driving!”

“Wait, I am?” Goofy asked, confused.

“Yeah, I gotta help the others with something.”

“Ohh. Gotcha.” Goofy said, realization dawning, before going to sit down in the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, Donald came with us to the back. Thankfully this lane was pretty empty of Heartless at the moment, so unless any Heartless showed up we’d be fine to be out of our seats for a minute. 

“Can you teach us Aero?” Branwen asked. “We’ve got the Basic Three and Cure down, that’s the next step.”

“Sure is.” Donald agreed. “Alright, I’ll show you.” He said, before an Aero whirled to life in his hands. “So, Aero. When you draw the mana from your heart, you have to want it to spin. Not strike like Thunder, or freeze like Blizzard, but spin. And spin fast.” Donald explained.

“Alright.” I said, sitting down and buckling up before going to try just that. I ignored Branwen doing the same next to me in favor of focusing on the magic held in my heart.

Spin. Like a little whirlwind, I’d want the mana to dance. And dance fast.

A small burst of green wind swirled in my palms, before fading out in a whisper. That was good, I was on the right track here.

A sudden burst of wind knocked me back painfully in my seat, equal shouts of surprise coming from the others. I looked over to see Donald rubbing the back of his head, and Branwen looking startled and rather windswept.

“Not that much mana!” Donald scolded.

“Right, sorry.” Branwen said sheepishly, my mind flashing back to when I’d made the same mistake with Ansem once upon a time. Unlike me though Branwen just looked dejected at the failure. “Shoot. I completely drained myself.”

“You can still practice when it regenerates.” I reminded him. “And you got it, all you need to do is tone it down.”

“That’s true.” Branwen nodded. 

“Isn’t that how you make an Aerora, though? By putting more mana into an Aero to make it stronger?” Sora asked curiously. 

“No no no no no! That’s not how you do it!” Donald protested, waving his arms as he did so. “Putting too much mana in an Aero, or any first-level spell for that matter, doesn’t make it a second-level one! It’s too much mana for not enough of a boost in power, and it can be dangerous if you throw in too much and run out like Branwen just did now, okay?”

“Okay.” We all agreed. I turned back to my attempt at casting Aero, Branwen watching curiously. Dance. I held back a snort at the immediate thought of ‘dance, water, dance’ - thank you, Tristan - before bringing my focus back to the task at hand.

Swirl, dance, excitement. Whirl around and around and around. My heartbeat picked up as the green winds of Aero kicked up in my hands, growing from a breeze to a strong wind within seconds.

Crap calm down, calm down before it explodes like Branwen’s. I reined in the magic, frowning as the Aero weakened considerably. What was…?

Oh, oh I get it. I had to strike a balance - get just the right amount of energy into the spell. I breathed in, out, and started again, casting Aero again. Keep it to the tempo, dance to a beat fast but not too fast. 

“You got it.” Branwen grinned, looking at the spell in my hands just as Kairi yelped and the wind kicked up to the left before she brought it back under control again. I admit it, I giggled like a little kid in a candy store. I couldn’t help it! It was magic I was doing - new magic! What part of that wasn’t awesome?

We continued to practice as the gummi ship continued on its journey, Branwen joining the rest of us as soon as his mana regenerated. He still had the habit of accidentally overpowering it, but the more he cast, the less often he used too much mana to do it. 

We were all pretty confident with the spell by the time we landed on the new world. Exiting the gummi ship, we were met with the sight of a literal forest of bamboo and trees.

“Whoaaaaa. What on earth is this?” Branwen asked in awe, taking hold of one of the bamboo stalks in one hand. 

And yeah, that phrase? Just like Kairi and Sora, Branwen said ‘what on earth’ because I said ‘what on earth’. And have been saying it all my life- err, lives. The best part was that Hayner, Pence, and Olette actually liked it and decided to pick up my various phrases, which meant that Roxas and Naminé had tentatively started adopting them as well. Zion too I bet. 

I wasn’t the only one in this reality using them now. Except for nuggets, that somehow remained a me and Branwen thing, but eh, semantics.

“This-” I said, grabbing hold of another bamboo stem and shaking it, “-is bamboo. Believe it or not, it’s actually a grass, not a tree.”

“That’s a grass?!” Branwen yelled, clearly shocked. “How?”

“I don’t know, it just is.” I snickered, the others giggling at my twin’s reaction as well. Branwen gave the bamboo another disbelieving look, before shaking his head and huffing in amusement.

“Some of these worlds are weird.” he stated.

“Yup, some of ‘em sure are.” Goofy nodded, which was hilarious given that he came from a world where it was perfectly normal to have a giant hand throw a spaceship into orbit. We started walking then, making our way down the dirt path through the forest. 

After an unknown amount of time, we came across a large rock, Mushu’s shadow - cause that silhouette could only be him - displayed perfectly on the rock face, larger than life. Everyone stopped, grouping together at the sight.

“A Heartless?” Kairi asked.

“We should ambush it.” Donald said, turning to face the shadow we could see.

“Hang on, wait.” I said, lifting my arm to stop Donald. “Listen. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Donald asked, giving me a look, which fair because I’d just made that up on the spot.

“Hey wait a minute. That shadow - do you think it's Mushu?” Goofy asked.

“Mushu?” Sora wondered, before taking another look at the shadow. “Yeah, I think it is!”

Well, I was hoping Mushu would’ve opened his mouth and talked, but this worked too.

“Hey, Mushu! Is that you?” Donald asked as we approached Mulan and the dragon’s shadow. He popped up from around the boulder, before grinning at the recognition.

“You’ve heard of me? That’s right, I know you did! I’m little, lethal, and legendary! Now y’all scram before I get my dragon dander up.”

“What, you don’t recognize us?” Sora asked, frowning. “We missed you.”

“Well, you better hope I miss you, or else you’re-” Mushu blinked, cutting himself off, before beaming. “Sora, Donald, Goofy!”

“Do you know them?” Mulan asked as Mushu scrambled over to us.

“Know them? Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together! Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots. Though I don’t recognize you three - these the friends you were looking for?” Mushu asked. “Though, I thought you said you were lookin’ for two? Unless one of ‘em’s that king you were looking for?”

“Oh no, they’re not the king, but we did find him.” Donald was quick to explain. “They’re the siblings Sora was looking for; Kairi, Branwen, and Riku.”

“Nice to meet you.” Kairi said.

“Same.” Branwen agreed.

“Who’s your friend there?” I asked, looking over at Mulan.

“I’m Mulan- um, no I-I mean Ping. Son of Fa Zhou.” Mulan stated, dropping her voice after accidentally giving her real name. “Mushu’s one of my family’s guardians.”

“We didn’t know we were borrowing somebody as important as a family guardian.” Goofy said apologetically.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Mushu said, shaking a finger in Goofy’s face. He was quick to return to his perch on Mulan’s shoulder before continuing. “Aaaand that puts you three up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here. And your friends too, cause I highly doubt they’d just leave you here to work it all off.” the little dragon finished.

“Mushu…” Mulan started.

“Aw, they don’t mind. Ain’t that right?”

“Hmm, sounds fair.” Sora decided.

“What is it that you need us to do?” I asked.

“See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial army. We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp.” Mushu explained.

“Would you join us?” Mulan asked. “It would be easier to fit in if I’m with guys, like you.”

“Fit in? What for?” Sora wondered. “We’re not exactly locals. If anything, we’d make you stand out.”

“I know! You’re pretending to be a boy, aren’t ya!” Goofy suddenly announced, startling pretty much the entire group. I wasn’t surprised - Goofy was silly, but he wasn’t stupid. Not by a long shot.

“What?!” Donald and Sora yelled in unison, as Branwen gaped and asked,

“Wait, Ping’s a girl?”

“But if she’s pretending to be a guy, it must be for a good reason, right?” Kairi pointed out. Mulan nodded.

“I’m glad most of you didn’t notice...that means it's working. Just- don’t tell anyone, okay? Promise me.” she asked. 

“Wait, ‘most’?” Sora asked, a little confused.

“I knew.” I clarified, leaving out the fact of how I knew.

“Ohh.” Sora said, before returning his attention to Mulan. “Don’t worry. We promise we won’t tell anyone.” he assured her. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves, before explaining herself.

“The emperor sent out missives to each family, ordering a man of the household to join the army. But my father...he’s the only man in my household. And he’s old - far too old to fight in the war. If he joined he would die!” Mulan said, clearly worried for her father. “So I came instead. But...girls can’t join the army. It would bring shame on them all. I-if I’m caught, I’ll, I’ll be...executed.” Mulan finished quietly.

“What?!” Kairi shouted in outrage. “That’s ridiculous!”

“But it is what it is.” Mushu said, before giving us all a look. “Now, can I trust y’all not to spill, even by accident? Ping’s life is on the line here!”

“Of course. We won’t.” Branwen promised. “And since we know, we can help Ping hide it, right?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to worry about us.” Donald agreed.

“Uh, guys?” Kairi asked, getting all of our attention. “I’m a girl. And don’t you dare think of leaving me behind!!”

“I don’t know...they might attack you.” Mulan said uncertainly. “Or worse.”

“Well, we’re not the ones signing up for the army.” I pointed out. “They don’t get a say in who is and isn’t part of our group.”

“Yup! We’re not leaving anyone behind.” Goofy agreed. 

“And if they do attack us, we won’t take it lying down. Nobody hurts our friends!” Donald declared.

“That’s right.” Sora nodded.

“Okay...if you’re sure…” Mulan relented dubiously, clearly harboring doubts about the whole thing. “Then let’s go. The training camp’s this way.”

Mushu leaned out from his perch to look at Mulan. “Remember girl - manly.” 

Mu- no, Ping, I gotta think of her as Ping - nodded, sucked in a breath, and then...oh my gosh, no. Just, no.

“Ping, wait. You- please don’t inflate like that, or swing your arms so- so- that.” I verbally flailed, failing to find the words to describe that, that horrible movement. “You don’t look manly, you just look extremely awkward.” 

Ping literally deflated, looking like I’d kicked her puppy. “I-I do?”

“Look, stand like this.” I said, standing up straight. “See? Shoulders straight, move with confidence. Your body language will betray your nervousness - act like you’re supposed to be there. Like you belong.” I explained.

“Oh. So, like this?” Ping asked, straightening her shoulders. She turned and walked perpendicular to the path, slightly hesitant but still going strong.

“Yeah, like that.” I nodded. “A little nerves is fine - you’re joining the army after all - but don’t shrink in on yourself. Remember to be assertive. And be careful when crossing your legs, some people think it’s unmanly and feminine for whatever reason and given how sexist they already are they probably do too. So make sure someone else is doing it before you do.”

“Oh.” Ping said in a tone of dawning realization. “Be careful about crossing my legs. Got it.”

“Let’s see, is there anything else…?” I mused. “You’ve got chest wraps, right?”

“Right.” Ping nodded.

“Okay, I think you’re good.” I said. Ping smiled at me.

“Thanks, Riku.”

“No problem.” Honestly, watching that in the movie made me cringe so bad. It would be even worse in real life - and as her life was literally on the line here, I was making sure she knew the finer details so she could keep up the ruse.

“Who knew you’d be so good at giving that kind of advice?” Branwen wondered.

“Well, she’s trying to be a boy. And I am a boy.” I pointed out. “Who better to explain the finer details than a guy?”

“That’s a good point.” Kairi agreed. “I didn’t even realize some people thought guys crossing their legs was unmanly.” She added, making a face at the ridiculousness of it all. 

“Well, you’re certainly doing a good job paying back your debt, aren’t you?” Mushu asked, sounding pleased. Which made sense, as his job was to help Mula- Ping! -and keep her from dying.

“Anything to help a friend.” Goofy said.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the training camp. Ping moved ahead of me to get in line for...was this registration or something? Either way, she- hang on a minute, if this was registration, why were we here? We weren’t enlisting in the Imperial army!!

“Guys-” I started, but was interrupted by a yell from Sora further ahead in line.

“Hey, no cutting!”

“Get out!” Donald growled.

“Sora-” I tried, but was interrupted by the short soldier in red sucker punching my brother in the face.

Oh no he didn’t-!

I raced out from behind Ping to slam my fist into his face, knocking him back a step. “What gives you the right-?”

“Back off.” the soldier growled, shoving me back. I grabbed his hair this time, by stupid bun, and yanked his head to the right. He responded by grabbing my shoulders and twisting me to the ground. Joke’s on him, my tight grip on his hair made sure he came crashing down too, even if the impact caused me to lose said grip.

“Hey, space in line!” Someone else shouted, shoving the soldier I’d been grappling with aside, only for the unfortunate pair to literally get bounced off this huge giant of a round man. 

“I wonder what they’re serving for lunch today?” he mused in a mild and relaxed voice, and wait a minute, this was the lunch line?  

“Knuckle sandwiches!” the short soldier growled, before leaping onto the skinny soldier in yellow, knocking him to the ground and punching him in the face. 

“That does it!” Sora growled, shoving his way into the fight and grabbing the guy I had mentally dubbed as Short Dude by the bun just like I had, using that as leverage to yank his head back and get an arm around his neck. Meanwhile Donald and the skinny guy in yellow were tussling off to the side, while the round giant just stood there placidly above it all. Branwen jumped in to attack him, but paused right next to him with a raised fist and an understandably apprehensive expression.

“Uhh…”

I moved to back Sora up, but was abruptly halted by a firm grip on my shoulder. I turned angrily and- oh. Kairi.

“What were you thinking?” she demanded. 

“Hey, he hit Sora in the face for literally no reason!” I said defensively.

“You should have broken up the fight then, not joined it!” she scolded me.

“Please, stop!” Ping interjected, getting the attention of all the brawlers.

“Please?!” Skinny Guy said indignantly.

“What a girl.” Short Dude scoffed. Ping flinched slightly, before trying again.

“Being polite isn’t just for girls. So knock it off!” she demanded.

“Knock what off?” Short Dude asked, crossing his arms derisively.

“You punched me!” Sora said angrily.

“Well your friend-!”

“Cutting in line!” Donald shouted over him. That was fine, it was pretty easy to guess what was said.

“What a shrimp!” Skinny Guy scoffed. I scowled.

“Who you callin’ a shrimp, panda lips? I’m a bona fide guardian dragon!” Mushu interjected, popping out from the neck of Ping’s armor, and uh huh, sure you are buddy. Sure you are. Ping looked frantic, shoving Mushu back down into her armor and out of sight.

“Look, let’s just get back in line, okay?” Ping said.

“Whose side are you on? I just got slugged!” Sora protested.

“And you got him back for that.” I pointed out. “Now you’re even.”

“Even?!” Short Dude squawked. “That brat and you-!”

“Soldiers! Get back in line!” a new voice snapped, and here came the captain.

“The captain!” somebody - was it the placid giant? - murmured, everyone quick to snap back into an orderly line. I stepped out of it, pulling Kairi a couple steps back as well.

“Wha-?” she started to ask, but I cut her off.

“Later.” I promised, already anticipating where this was going. Kairi was a girl. And she wasn’t hiding. If she was in line with the other soldiers, that would just give everybody the wrong idea. A bad wrong idea.

“You- wait, what are you doing here?” the captain demanded, cutting himself off to glare at Kairi.

“We’re not here to join the army. We’re just seeing off a friend who is, and then we’re leaving.” I explained, getting surprised double-takes from the rest of our group.

“I see.” the captain said, crossing his arms. “Well, you’ve seen them off. I would appreciate it if you left now.”

“Gladly.” Kairi grumbled. The others were looking at us with various expressions of unease.

“Riku-” Sora began, but I cut him off.

“You guys stay with Ping. Don’t worry about us.” I reassured him, before turning to Kairi. “Let’s go.”

~*~

“What was that back there?” Kairi asked as we climbed a hill nearby the encampment. “That guy acted like he was offended just by me standing there. And why are we just leaving them? We should go back-”

“We can’t. It doesn’t work that way in this world.” I sighed, just as fed up with this as Kairi. “They’re not gonna change their minds about what’s acceptable for girls to do, not from outsiders. And we can’t afford to stir up trouble for Ping.”

“...You’re right.” Kairi reluctantly relented. “So what now?”

“Now? We follow them from a distance.” I said, sitting down now that we were at the top of the hill.

“What?” Kairi asked, clearly blindsided by this. I just shot her an amused grin.

“Just because those idiots don’t want us hanging around doesn’t mean that we can’t back them up. We can take out Heartless that are too close for comfort, and give Sora and the others a much needed breather.” I said, leaning back against a tree. It was only a moment before Kairi joined me.

“That’s true. We’re not just gonna abandon them because of a stupid rule.” Kairi nodded, before turning her head to look directly at me. “Thanks, Riku.”

“For what?” I asked, confused.

“For doing this. Letting me come, not aban-”

“I would never do that!” I protested hotly. Kairi flushed.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that!” she defended herself. “I mean that you came with me. That you didn’t just leave me behind.”

Oh. Ohhhh. Yeah, I could see why she- yeah. And in canon…

“What kind of an older brother would I be if I just left you in the dust?” I told her with a small grin. I wouldn’t do what canon Sora and Riku did - they’d had good intentions, but… “The others can handle helping Ping out. We’ll just make sure they’ve got an easier time of it, and if something major crops up, we’ll help out. The captain can get mad at us all he wants, but it’s not exactly like he can deny that we were a big help.” I finished.

“Yeah, that’s true. Guess it’ll be a nice camping trip between you and me, eh Riku?” Kairi grinned, playfully hitting me in the shoulder. I couldn’t help but chuckle in response.

“Yeah. We’re overdue some brother-sister bonding time anyway.” I agreed.

Following behind the marching army was actually surprisingly peaceful. Yeah sure there were Heartless to take out, more so as we got to the mountain, but the majority of our time was spent sitting in nature, listening to the calls of various animals and the rustling of the breeze through the leaves and grasses. We talked about everything and anything, and just generally had a nice time together.

All in all, I didn’t regret this one bit.

“Hey, Riku, since we’re getting close to the mountain, what should we do about the cold and terrain?” Kairi asked, getting my attention. “I mean, you grew up in a cold mountain-y area, so you’d know right?”

I couldn’t help an amused grin at that. “We’ll have to get into the nearest town, buy some cold weather gear. Sora and the others are probably going to be active enough to be okay, plus I’m sure Donald’ll do something about it. But since neither of us have the control or know-how for internal Fire magic, winter clothing it is.” I decided.

Thankfully, there was a mountain town the army passed on their way up. It was but the work of a moment to head inside and start browsing the available options. Once we were kitted out in fur coats, sturdy boots, and thick gloves, we made our purchases - thank heavens all the worlds used munny regardless of if it made sense or not - and headed back outside.

“I guess we’ve got to pick up the pace to catch up.” Kairi commented. I nodded.

“Yeah. C’mon, hopefully we can follow in their wake and not have to deal with the Heartless they’ve cut through while we’re climbing.” I said, before we got started marching up the mountain.

Thankfully, while there was quite a bit of snow everywhere it wasn’t nearly enough to impede our movement, and we made good time up the rocky incline. Kairi helped me up a boulder before letting out an alarmed scream as she looked over at something to the left.

“What is it?! Kairi?!” I asked frantically, and- oh. Oh nuggets.

“The village - it’s on fire!!” Kairi shouted, and oh holy crap was that one big fire. We couldn’t see it from where we’d climbed up from below, but now that we were on the same level there was no way we could miss it, even from the distance we were at.

Kairi and I wasted no time, barreling as fast as we could over to the village. People were screaming and running in a panic, Shan-Yu and the Heartless tearing a swath through the area.

“Holy- nevermind that! I’ll help get the villagers down the mountain, you stop that lunatic and the Heartless from chasing after us.” I told her, intentionally putting her in the more visible position.

“Right! Stay safe.” Kairi said, before running over to the nearest group of monsters, staff at the ready and magic sparking into being. 

The army was present in the area, or at least some of them were, fighting off the Heartless. Kairi flattening the monsters should go a long way into earning their reluctant respect. In the meantime, I had people to save.

“Hey! This way, there’s a safe path over here!” I called, getting the attention of the nearest group of people.

“Truly? Thank you, boy!” One of the men said, coming over to me. A trio of Heartless lunged at us, getting screams from some of the people in the group, but I dispatched them quickly with Midnight Blue.

“Anyone who can fight, pick something up and help guard those who can’t.” I said, and the men of the village proceeded to do just that. I led them over to the path Kairi and I used to get up here, before stopping. “You’ll be able to take it from here - I’ll be getting as many people as I can to safety.” I explained.

“Bless you, child.” An older lady said thankfully, before the group started making their way down the mountainside. Satisfied that they’d be alright, I started repeating the process with any other groups I came across, making sure to take people I’d found scattered on their lonesome or in tiny groups to merge into the larger ones.

By the time I’d gotten everyone I could find out, the various houses, buildings, and walls of the village had been reduced to smoking ruins. Thankfully, the area had been cleared of Heartless by now, and it was the work of a few moments to find Kairi and the captain.

“Kairi. Sir.” I said, jogging over to them. The captain looked up at me in surprise, holding his hand over a wound on his side.

“You...what are you two doing here?” he asked laboriously.

“That fire was impossible to miss. How could we just stand by?” I asked him. He nodded in response.

“Fair point.” he agreed, before looking at Kairi. “You...fought admirably, for both a girl...and a foreigner. It’s...a shame on us...that we needed such help.” he grunted.

Kairi just gave him a wan look in response. “It’s not a shame to need help, you know.” she said, before looking over at me. “Did you get everyone out?”

“Everyone that I could find.” I answered. The crunching of snow drew our attention over to the summit-facing entrance of the village, and I couldn’t help a relieved smile at seeing my friends and Ping again.

“Whoa- Riku? Kairi? What are you doing here?” Sora asked, understandably confused at seeing us.

“Helping protect the people here.” I answered, and wait, why was Sora looking so depressed about that? “Sora? What’s wrong?”

“Shan-Yu baited us away from the village. We thought he was in the caves higher up, so we went after him. But it turns out he was just luring us away so he could attack here.” Sora said dejectedly.

“It’s all my fault.” Mushu said, walking over to the front of the group with his head lowered and ears drooping. “If I hadn’t said anything about seeing Shan-Yu up there, we would’ve been down here with the others helping out.”

“It’s not your fault. You saw an opportunity to take out the guy behind it all, and you took it.” Kairi reassured him, before looking up at the others. “Shan-Yu and the Heartless did this. They’re the ones responsible for what happened here. Not you.”

“Yeah...I guess.” Branwen said, lifting his head from where it had been lowered before. “Captain, where are the rest of the soldiers?”

“We got routed...pretty bad.” the captain grunted. “They had...no choice...but to flee...as we were overwhelmed.”

“What about the villagers?” Ping asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry, I helped them get to safety.” I explained, much to her and my friends' visible relief. The captain used the wall to struggle to get to his feet, before collapsing back to his knees again.

“Captain!”

“Don’t push yourself!” Ping said worriedly. The captain just waved us all off.

“It’s just...a scratch.” he panted.

“That is more than just a flesh wound.” I pointed out, unable to help paraphrasing that reference.

“Captain, you should regroup with the rest of the soldiers. We’ll handle this.” Sora said, before looking around the village, an angrily determined expression settling on his face as he took in all the damage that had been done. We all turned to face the summit of the mountain, where we knew that monster of a man was lurking. “Let’s go.” Sora said, before pressing forward.

~*~

Any Heartless in our path were ruthlessly cut down as we made our way up the mountain. Once we were at the all-too-familiar snow covered…clearing, for lack of a better word, we saw none other than Shan-Yu standing at its peak. The screech of a falcon startled me badly as Shan-Yu’s bird swooped over our heads, heading back to the shoulder of its master. Heartless gathered at the summit around him, forming a swarm where- where men should have been.

“Where are his men? There’s no way he simply invaded China with Heartless alone.” I wondered, before gasping softly as a horrible thought occurred to me. “Unless, those were his men…”

Ping gasped as the implications dawned on her. “How could he? His own men?”

“That man is a monster. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.” Branwen muttered darkly. We saw Shan-Yu draw his sword and point it at us, before charging forward, his Heartless army surging over the hill and barreling down toward us.

“I don’t like the odds of this.” Donald said uneasily as we all got into battle stances.

“But what else can we do?” Kairi pointed out worriedly. The arrival of a particular trio armed with a certain firework lifted my spirits, and I grinned unrepentantly at what I knew was about to come.

“Stand back. We’ll handle this.” Short Dude - I still didn’t know the guy’s name - said, planting the firework in the snow. He began to aim the thing at Shan-Yu, before Ping got a better idea.

“Sorry!” she said, body-checking Short Dude out of the way before grabbing the firework and running forward to plant it in a different place, turning it to point directly at the cliffs around this clearing. “Flint, flint, I need some…” Ping muttered frantically, before her eyes settled on Mushu and lit up with an idea. “Ah.”

“Hey wait wait wait wait a second!” Mushu protested, attempting to run away before Ping grabbed him around the middle, stretching the poor guy out to force fire from his nostrils and onto the fuse of the firework. For some insane reason, Mushu decided jumping up from Ping’s hands to land on the firework was a good idea, at least until the thing launched into the sky. “You’re going the wrong way!!” Mushu wailed, riding the firework as it barreled toward the cliff.

“No.” I said, a wicked, anticipatory grin on my face. “This is an avalanche zone.” Everyone looked at me in surprise before the firework collided with the cliffside, triggering a deadly wave of snow to wash down the mountainside.

“Yes!” Ping grinned, excited at her plan’s success.

“Captain?” Sora asked, noticing the man arriving with a group of soldiers.

“Quit staring and run already!” I yelled, shoving Sora over toward the safety of the rocks. “If you don’t want to get buried, move your butts!”

I didn’t stop to stare at the scene of Shan-Yu and his army getting buried under the snow - as great as it was, I’d already seen it before, and we had bigger problems to worry about. Namely getting the heck out of the way. Ping grabbed the startled captain and yanked him back in the direction where he’d come, the rest of us hot on her heels. 

Once we were sheltered against the protection of the rocky cliff, we watched as the wave of snow flooded the area where we’d been and flowed over the edge of the cliff that had previously been behind us. Had we still been there, we would’ve been swept over the edge too.

“Thanks, Ping.” the captain said gratefully. Ping looked a little embarrassed at being thanked by her superior.

“It...was nothing.” she stammered, before getting to her feet.

“I should never have doubted you.” the captain continued, also getting up from the snows. “From now on, you have my trust.”

I grimaced, knowing what was coming. One way or another, Ping was getting outed on this mountain. From what I can remember, I think it was Mushu who did it? Could I catch him and shut his mouth before he did? No...no I couldn’t. Ping had to prove that just because she was a woman didn’t mean that she couldn’t be a hero. And to do that...everyone had to know she was a woman.

Sorry, Ping...Mulan. I really am.

“Thank you, captain!” Ping said happily. Mushu popped up from the snows - the dragon was lucky he hadn’t been swept over the edge, seriously - and shook the powdery white off of him.

“First she uses me as a lighter, then she turns me into a cannonball. The head ancestor’s gonna hear about this.” the former guardian complained.

“Mushu!” I snapped, even though I knew the damage was already done.

“Huh?” He said, before noticing the captain. His eyes widened in horror, and he frantically clamped his hands over his mouth. But it was too late - the captain knew now. And in a way that was a lot more PG than seeing her sit upright with her hair down and her chest wraps peeking out from the blanket wrapped around her, even though it was Disney who had animated that scene regardless.

“Ping? A woman?” the captain murmured incredulously, before rounding on Ping. Or I guess, Mulan now. “It can’t be!” She didn’t speak, or turn and face the man. He scowled, enraged at the discovery. “Foreigners I can understand - they’re barbaric enough to allow women to fight. But a soldier in my own army?” he seethed, before turning to us. “You all knew, didn’t you? You knew Ping was a woman in disguise!”

“Doh!”

“Uhh…”

“Ah!” My friends stammered, while I just sighed.

“I can’t believe you lied to me.” The captain growled, making Pi...Mulan, flinch as he stalked past her. He stopped in his tracks, hands on his hips and his back to us. “The punishment for high treason and dishonoring the army…is death.”

“And you wonder why she hid herself.” Branwen hissed. I shot him a look.

“Not helping.” I hissed back in a whisper. Mulan turned around, a hurt and worried look on her face.

The captain turned his head, glaring back at Mulan. “Get out of my sight...now. You’re all dismissed.”

“Wait, you guys actually registered with the imperial army?” I asked, gaping at my friends. They all looked sheepish in response.

“Well, you said to stay with Ping…” Sora muttered defensively.

“My debt is repaid. For saving my life...I will spare yours.” the captain said, before marching forward toward the path leading down the mountain, where his soldiers were waiting. He was clearly finished with us. “The Emperor is waiting! Move out!” the captain commanded, before leading the army down the mountainside.

“Well, I suppose this is less awkward than telling the captain ‘hey, sorry man, but we’ve kinda got stuff to do so we’re gonna have to go leave to do that now’ and deserting.” I muttered, before sighing and turning back to the rest of the group. “So...what now?”

“Why do some of his soldiers look like zombies there?” Branwen asked a little incredulously, pointing at the army making their way down the mountainside path. I turned to look, and yeah, they were. The captain better put them in the infirmary or something when they get back, because that was not healthy.

“That’s weird.” Donald said, frowning.

“Really weird.” Goofy agreed.

“Yeah. They smell dark, though that could just be them.” I said, shrugging. It wouldn’t be the first time; people came in all shades between the two. Them having more darkness in their hearts like Branwen wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. 

“Well, they have been marching for a while. Not to mention Shan-Yu forced them all to retreat during the battle at the village, remember?” Kairi pointed out. “They’re probably just exhausted...really exhausted.”

Mushu took the opportunity to jump onto Mulan’s shoulders, moving so that he could stretch out to look her in the eyes. “Mulan...I’m sorry. I blew it.” he moaned despairingly. Mulan simply took hold of him gently in response, setting him down on the snow before removing her armor and letting her hair down. She was no longer part of the Imperial Army; no need to risk her neck any further by continuing to appear like she was.

“Thank you, everyone. Sorry I got you in trouble.”

“Well, Riku was right. We kinda weren’t supposed to be in there anyway.” Branwen said, wincing.

“What Branwen said. It’s not a big deal.” Sora agreed. “So Ping...uh, I mean Mulan...what’re you going to do now?” he asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly at calling her by her fake name.

“Well...go back home.” Mulan answered, moving over to walk with Mushu.

“You know, your daddy’s gonna be steamed as a chicken dumpling.” Mushu said sadly with a shrug as they started down the path. Mulan just lowered her head in response.

“Relax. We’ll take our share of the blame.” Sora reassured her.

“Thanks. You’re all wonderful friends.” Mulan told us gratefully. “Now come on. I’m ready to be done with this mountain.” Shan-Yu’s bird took the opportunity to call out, drawing our attention to it as it circled the clearing where his master fell.

“Good riddance.” Branwen muttered, shaking his head. I didn’t say anything, knowing the man was still alive. I couldn’t, not with what was at stake for Mulan. As much as I just wished to end the threat he posed here and now...some things were more important in the grand scheme of things. And he would be defeated, that I knew for sure.

For now...all we could do was make our way back to the capital.

Of course, Shan-Yu roaring in unbridled rage put a stop to that plan. I blinked in surprise, not having expected that at all.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me. That man’s still alive?” Branwen spat angrily. Looking back to the clearing, I couldn’t see the man at all. Maybe he got swept over the cliff? I got down on all fours and peeked over the ledge curiously. The others joined me in looking.

Aaaaand there he was. Wonderful.

“Looks like it.” Goofy said. Mulan gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

“They all think he’s dead. They’re not gonna be prepared for him to attack the Imperial City!” she breathed, knowing full well the danger of the situation.

“We have to do something!” Kairi agreed, clearly distraught.

“But what? They’re not gonna believe a thing we say. Not after this.” Donald groaned.

“It doesn’t matter. We have to try!” Mulan said, getting to her feet.

“We’re with you.” I responded seriously.

“Thank you. Now hurry, we have to get there before Shan-Yu does!” Mulan said, before leading the way down the mountain as fast as she could while still being safe. We followed just as intensely behind her - the fate of this reality’s China quite literally depended on us.

~*~

Panting, we scrambled to a stop next to the captain, exhausted from the run but brimming with panicked adrenaline. We’d only been able to catch up to them because they’d been marching at a walk; from what we’d seen of Shan-Yu before we left, he’d been doing the same.

Though ‘catch up’ probably wasn’t the best term, given that the entire city was celebrating and he was doing what I assumed was a ceremonial march or something.

“Shang! Shan-Yu is alive! He’s headed this way!” Mulan told him frantically.

“And why should I believe you this time?” the man asked irritably.

“Because you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.” I snapped.

“Riku’s right. Mulan’s telling you the truth.” Kairi said.

“Mulan?” Oh that’s right, he’d never heard her name before now. “No, I don’t care. I-”

“Gah!” Donald yelped, pointing up in the air. We turned to look and yup, that was Shan-Yu’s falcon, screeching in the air. Way to give yourself away buddy. Seriously, even in the middle of a party a falcon’s cry cuts right through - a party with what felt like half the country in attendance.

A multitude of emotions flashed across Captain Shang’s face in that moment, before finally settling on fierce determination. He scanned the area, before scowling in the direction of a pagoda near a large building that was probably the palace. I followed his gaze, and while I was only able to make out the silhouette of a man I knew it had to be him. Especially when that stupid falcon went over to land on him.

“Guard the palace! Do not let the enemy get anywhere near the Emperor!” Shang ordered. Short Dude, Skinny Guy, and Placid Giant all raced forward, swords raised and charging with battle cries on their lips - and Placid Giant still had that same expression on his face, that was just impressive. “That’s an order!” Shang demanded, turning to round on his other men - whose weak herbal smell vanished into a burst of dank, musty earth as they turned into Heartless right before our eyes. 

“You’re kidding me!” Sora shouted, summoning the Kingdom Key as party-goers shrieked and stampeded from the courtyard. All of us were quick to draw our own weapons, even Shang, as shocked as he was. Caught off guard or not, he was still an experienced soldier.

“We’ll keep them here - you go protect the Emperor!” Mulan told him. Shang looked torn, before Donald jumped and barked out,

“That’s an order!”

Shang looked like he wanted to say something about that, but just settled for nodding before he raced toward the imperial palace. We got ready to deal with the Heartless that had once been loyal soldiers of the Imperial Army.

First thing I did was lob a Dark Blizzard at a group of them to freeze them in their tracks, before following it up with a Dark Fire and then a normal Thunder. Who knew a one-two-three combo of the Basic Three would be so deadly? It was quite nice, really, considering I was only at first-level spells right now. 

An Aero whizzed past me to knock another group of Heartless over like so many dominos, Branwen and Kairi racing in with a laugh. 

“Goofy, get in front of Donald! He can fire off crazy spells from behind you!” I suggested, seeing Kairi slamming her staff down on the ground to unleash an impressive blast of light around her out of the corner of my eye, before engaging a group of Heartless with Midnight Blue.

“Gawrsh, on it!” Goofy said with a grin, clearly warming up to it. 

“Wawawawawa! Eat this!” Donald shouted, firing a truly impressive Thundaga over Goofy’s head to reduce a bunch of Heartless to so much smoke against the wall of the courtyard. The reason why I know this? The crash of lightning is impossible to miss, and the Heartless in question flew over my head in their quest to impact with the wall in front of me.

“Nice one Donald!” Sora shouted, landing at my side with the Kingdom Key wreathed in the flames of a Fire spell. 

“Back to back?” I asked, shooting him a grin; one that he returned happily.

“You betcha!” 

I turned my back to my little brother then, keeping Heartless from ambushing him from behind just as he was doing to me. From there, it didn’t actually take too long to get rid of the remaining Heartless. With the six of us, it was only the work of a few minutes - even though it felt so much longer than that.

“Are there any left?” Branwen asked, surveying the courtyard.

“Looks empty. Now come on - we’ve got to get to the Emperor.” Kairi said.

“Right!” Sora and Donald chorused, before we all took off like the devil himself was on our tails. Shang needed our help ASAP - and the sooner we got there, the better.

~*~

As we charged over to the palace, I could see Shan-Yu standing next to the Emperor, a crooked blade in front of his throat. Why they were outside the front door instead of inside the palace, I had no idea, but I had bigger concerns at the moment.

“Now you’ll bow to me.” Shan-Yu hissed in the elderly man’s face, before turning his head to glare at us as we arrived. Shang jumped over our heads - what took him so long? - and began attacking Shan-Yu with his bare hands in martial arts, not with his sword. He must’ve been caught up battling the man, only for Shan-Yu to disarm him and go after the Emperor.

Shang punched Shan-Yu in the stomach, knocking him to the ground and seemingly unconscious. Shang quickly escorted the Emperor inside, Placid Giant and Skinny Guy pulling the doors of the palace firmly shut behind them. Just before they closed I caught a glimpse of Shang looking back with narrowed eyes, but I didn’t have time to do more than take note of it before Shan-Yu sat up, giving his head a shake before noticing with alarm that the palace doors were shut to him. We were quick to plant ourselves between him and the gigantic doors, weapons at the ready and spoiling for a fight.

“You shall not pass.” I quipped, unable to resist because dude, the situation was just asking for it. 

“It ends now.” Mulan agreed. His only response was to start laughing maniacally, the smell of damp earth blooming in my nose as an aura of darkness surrounded and strengthened him. 

“Two can play at that game!” Branwen snarled, increasing the scent twofold as he drew on his own darkness in an explosive aura of night and moonlight to presumably do the same. Huh, can I do something like that? Make an aura to strengthen myself? Something to figure out when I wasn’t on the battlefield. As the man charged, Branwen was quick to fling a Dark Blizzard, and we took that as the signal to engage in battle, and somewhere between all the spells being slung around I got an idea.

“Branwen! Throw a Blizzard through Sora’s Aero!” I shouted, because surely a wind-catapulted boulder of ice would do a lot more damage on impact, right? Sora’s eyes lit up at the suggestion before he cast the aforementioned spell. Branwen shot a Dark Blizzard at it too late, but seemed to get the idea.

“One more time!” I heard as I heaved against Shan-Yu in a blade lock.

“Riku duck!!” Sora shouted, and I wasted no time in hitting the floor. Which was a horrible idea in hindsight; without my keyblade to stop it the entire force of Shan-Yu’s strength he’d been pushing into his sword came down to cut deeply into my back, just below my shoulder blade. I screamed, just barely registering the sound of a propelled chunk of ice hitting Shan-Yu dead on through the pain. Please haven’t hit something vital please haven’t hit something vital please-

“Riku!!” Donald shouted in alarm. “Curaga!”

“Thanks!” I yelled back gratefully as I rolled to the side before getting to my feet, marveling at the fact that the pain was completely erased from existence, just like Ansem had done with my leg last year. “Wasn’t your fault, keep doing it!” I shouted back over at my brothers, not wanting them to get the wrong idea.

“Use my Aeroga!” Donald suggested, which yeah, that was a good idea. He could launch any Blizzard with way more force than Sora could right now. Actually-

“I’ll do it!” Kairi shouted, disengaging from Shan-Yu. He tried to pursue, obviously not wanting a repeat of getting shot by an ice boulder, but Goofy jumped in, barring him from chasing after her. 

“Use Fire! Wind’ll augment it!” I shouted at them, before joining Sora, Mulan, and Branwen in ganging up on the man, keeping him on his toes while forcing him to focus on us instead of our two mages.

“Gotcha!”

“Branwen out of the way!” Donald shouted, and my twin happily obliged. “Aeroga!”

“Fire!”

A truly impressive amount of flame barreled toward the man, engulfing him with a pained scream. Note to self: magic was both miraculous and terrifying. Rage burned in Shan-Yu’s hate-filled eyes, settling on Donald before charging at him with terrifying speed, sending our mage flying with a slice of his blade, feathers falling around him. He laughed - that is until Goofy slammed his shield into Shan-Yu’s face as hard as he could. I hope the man lost a tooth from that.

Mulan, being no fool, was quick to take the opportunity to hit Shan-Yu while he was still reeling from the surprise blow to the face, striking him several times in quick succession. That seemed to do the trick; Shan-Yu staggered back, a pained expression on his face as he clutched at his stomach. 

Slowly, the man keeled over backward, before collapsing to the ground with a dull thud. And just like that, his scent of darkness vanished, only there was no herbal tang to take its place. He just...stopped smelling. His scent was gone, just like that. Like a switch had suddenly been flicked off.

Just like it had when Ansem had died.

“We- we did it!” Kairi cheered, before looking a bit hesitant. “He’s down this time, right?”

“Think so.” Sora frowned. Mulan took a hesitant step forward, examining the fallen Hun before sighing in relief.

“It’s over. He’s defeated.” she grinned. Everyone around me cheered, Branwen going so far as to hug a startled Mulan as Donald and Goofy exchanged high-fives.

“Now that’s what I call burning some hunny-bun! Aw, yeah! Mulan’s the best! Mulan’s the best!” I heard Mushu cheering as he did some sort of victory dance out of the corner of my eye, before changing his tune. “No wait a minute - I’m the best, Mushu’s the best! Mushu’s the best!”

“You alright, Riku?” Sora asked, and I realized I’d been silent for too long. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said automatically, before really thinking about it. “No, really. Shan-Yu’s dead, and you’re all okay. That’s what I care about.” I said honestly, before hugging my little brother.

“Yeah. He won’t be hurting anyone ever again.” Donald agreed.

“We did what we had to. We killed him so he wouldn’t destroy China.” Mulan added grimly. “Don’t agonize over the fact that you killed someone; remind yourself of what would have happened if you didn’t. That he killed for fun and ambition, and you in defense of your people.” 

There was a moment of silence as we all digested this, before we were brought out of our thoughts by the grinding sounds of the doors to the Imperial Palace opening, the Emperor stepping outside escorted outside by Shang and the two soldiers that had previously shut the doors. “Gather the people together around the palace.” the Emperor ordered.

“Yes Your Excellency.” Shang and the soldiers said in unison.

“Oh, and remove this unsightly person from my doorstep?” the Emperor added, gesturing to the body of Shan-Yu.

“With pleasure, Your Excellency.” Shang grinned, before doing just that. He and the soldiers disappeared into the city to fulfill their orders, taking the body to who knows where. I suppose it didn’t really matter at this point.

“Stay here.” The Emperor said, addressing us. “This audience concerns you.” We all gulped, and even though I knew this was to thank Mulan, that still didn’t make me any less anxious.

It didn’t take long for the army to assemble the citizens, maybe a few minutes. Them spreading word of Shan-Yu very much being dead this time probably helped. Shang returned to the Emperor’s side, and he took that as the signal to begin, coming to stand in front of us where we had lined up.

“I’ve heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan.” he said. Mulan bowed to him in response, and remained in that position. “You stole your father’s armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier. You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name.”

“Yeah yeah we get it already. No need to-” Branwen grumbled, before letting out an ‘oof’ as I interrupted him by way of an elbow to the gut. 

“Not the time!” I hissed, making a mental note that I needed to address proper time and place with authority with Branwen. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know; it wasn’t something he would’ve learned from living in Twilight Town with a group of teenagers, or even from my memories. 

Heck, his only experience with authority was with my parents and teachers. Parents were parents and I hadn’t been afraid to speak my mind in front of my teachers. Or stand my ground when they’d been wrong. Not exactly a great example to follow. Again, not his fault; it’s only been a few months since he came into the world after all.

“You’re a young woman.” the Emperor said, choosing to elect not to acknowledge Branwen’s faux pas. “And in the end...you have saved us all.” He bowed to Mulan then, who raised her head a little to see what he was doing. Her eyes flew open in shock, and she straightened, flailing her hands about a bit in several aborted motions, having no idea what to do about the Emperor bowing to her.  

The rise of the rustling murmur of white noise drew our attention to the crowd behind us, and holy crap they were all bowing too.  

“Oh wow.” Sora breathed as Mulan started laughing breathlessly.

“We did it, hooray!” Donald cheered as he jumped upward, Goofy and Sora high-fiving in the meantime. I grabbed Kairi and Branwen in a group hug, grinning all the while. We all broke it off, Mulan turning to address the Emperor.

“Your Excellency!” she grinned.

“Captain Li.” he said, Shang clasping his hands together and bowing in response, before bending down to pick up Shan-Yu’s large and crooked blade. He came forward, bowing his head as he gently placed the blade in Mulan’s receiving hands. “Take this, so the world will know what it is you have done for China.” the Emperor finished.

“Thank you.” Mulan said, bowing to him again.

“Mulan.” Shang spoke up.

“Yes?” Mulan asked.

“Sora.”

“Sir.”

“Donald.”

“Wha?!”

“Goofy.”

“Yes sir?”

“Branwen.”

“Sir?”

“Riku.”

“Yeah?”

“Kairi.”

“Oh!” Yeah I hadn’t entirely been expecting him to acknowledge her either, though in hindsight…

“Thank you.” Shang finished, bowing to us in gratitude.

“‘Thank you’? Is that all there is to say, captain?” the Emperor asked with an amused chuckle, Shang looking torn between embarrassment and awkwardness. “If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China’s bravest woman, you’ll have to be a bit more eloquent than that!” 

Shang made an aborted motion toward the Emperor from behind him with wide eyes, as though wanting to stop him but not daring to, while the Emperor himself laughed in amusement at having called him out. Mulan couldn’t help but giggle at the poor man’s expense as well.

Sora put his hand on Mulan’s shoulder to get her attention, a beaming grin on his face. “Can I get an autograph?” my little brother asked cheekily.

“Thanks for everything, guys.” Mulan said with a smile.

“Now they gotta let me go back to bein’ a Guardian!” Mushu cheered. “They gotta!”

“But Mushu, I thought you already were a family guardian!” Goofy said, more than a little confused.

“What? Oh, no, no - don’t even worry about that, that’s just real technical. Just for us guardians.”

“I don’t know, ‘they gotta let me go back to being a guardian’ doesn’t sound real technical to me.” Branwen pointed out dryly.

“You tricked us!” Sora said angrily, pointing an accusing finger at Mushu, who flinched back.

“No no no no no-”

“Guys, he said ‘go back’ to being a family guardian.” I said, intervening on behalf of the poor dragon. “That means he was one before, and I guess something happened that made him have to earn his place again.”

“U-uh y-yeah, that’s right. Don’t you kids worry about it, I didn’t wanna bog you down with-”

“Ah!” Mulan gasped, Shang-Yu’s sword lighting up and floating from her grasp.

“-very complex, very bad press, you understand-”

“Guess it’s my turn.” I said with a smile, summoning Midnight Blue. Excitement ran through my veins as I pointed my keyblade toward the gateway. Power gathered at its tip, and burst apart in a flash of light. Out of curiosity I looked down to see that the pattern of light blossoming under my feet wasn’t the crown signature to Sora, but rather the unmistakable equilateral triangles that made up the Triforce. 

Returning my attention to the floating sword in front of me, I watched in awe as a keyhole appeared above it, and raised Midnight Blue to fire off a beam of power to unlock the connection from this world to another. The keyhole faded from sight, leaving everything back to normal.

“...I get to do that next time.” Branwen declared, sending all of us into a giggling fit.

“Okay!” Donald said, being the first to shake himself out of it. “Keyhole unlocked!”

“Guess it’s about time for us to be movin’ on, then.” Goofy commented.

“You shall be missed.” the Emperor declared.

“We can come back and visit, right?” Kairi asked him.

“Of course!” Mulan told her. 

“We will look forward to your return.” Shang agreed, coming to stand next to Mulan.

“You two play nice!” Sora teased, making them both balk and exchange startled glances with each other.

“Whoa! Watch it soldier!” Shang protested.

“Not a soldier - you kicked us out, remember?” Branwen grinned. Mulan chuckled, joined shortly by Mushu as he poked up from his perch on Mulan’s shoulder.

“Goodbye you all. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Branwen, Riku, and Kairi, I’ll miss you all.” Mulan said.

“Us too. I’m glad we could meet.” I said honestly.

“Come on, that’s enough dawdling! Time’s a wastin’, Riku!” Donald said, already having started down the stairs.

“I’m coming, you pushy duck.” I chuckled, joining the rest of the group in heading down the stairs, away from the Imperial Palace.

Chapter Text

Back at the gummi ship, Kairi and I decided to take turns using the ship’s bathroom to change out of our winter gear and stow it away before rejoining the others. I went in first, pulling my normal clothes out of my amazing magical pockets - because apparently, no matter what you were wearing, the fairies had enchanted them to carry over - and changing clothes. I also took the opportunity to use the bathroom while I was there because duh, and once I was done with that I stepped out and Kairi went in after me. And since we couldn’t take off with people in the bathroom I had a certain something to address. 

“Hey, Branwen, I need to talk to you.” I said, pulling my twin aside.

“Huh? What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

“Remember what I said about it not being the time?” I asked. “With the Emperor?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Branwen asked uneasily.

“You can’t do that. That man was the leader of an entire nation; backtalking him is a very bad idea.” I told him seriously. “Look, I’m telling you because you don’t know and you need to know. Authority figures are in positions of power for a reason, and you need to respect that.”

“But- but with Mrs. Kerr-!” Branwen started to protest, before I cut him off.

“Teachers are one thing, Branwen. Same with our parents.” I said, my heart aching even as Branwen’s expression twisted at our loss. “The Emperor is a man that has the authority and power to order us thrown in jail, exiled, or killed, and he has the manpower to back it up. Which would make our job of eradicating the Heartless there near impossible.”

“People like that, in charge of groups or cities, need to be respected. Not rolling over to be a doormat, but respecting what they can do.” I explained, before frowning. “I don’t know how well I’m explaining this…”

“No, I...I think I get it.” Branwen told me. “They can hurt us, or make things a pain, so I’ve gotta be careful, right? To not make them mad?”

“Yeah. Of course, that only goes to a certain point; evil men don’t deserve the respect of a leader. And respect of leadership only goes so far - respect as a person is another thing entirely.” I said, before frowning again, brows furrowed in thought. “I guess respect of leadership isn’t the right word...more like acknowledging their position? Yeah, that’s right. Acknowledging their position and power.” I am so not the right person to be explaining this...where is the internet when you need it?

“Okay. I’ll be more careful next time.” Branwen told me. I gave him a smile in response.

“That’s all I can ask.” I reassured him.

“Hey, Riku, Branwen!” Sora called, getting our attention. “It’s Branwen’s turn to drive!”

“What?!” Donald yelped even as Branwen’s eyes lit up.

“Awesome!!” He cheered, dashing over to sit in the driver’s seat.

“Well, we’ve all gotta learn.” Sora told Donald at the sight of his friend’s apprehensive face.

“That’s true…” the mage relented, before focusing on Branwen. “Alright, listen up! First thing you gotta-”

“Riku, we need to talk to you.” Kairi said, pulling my attention away from the gummi ship lesson. I’m sure I’d be getting a turn for that later.

“Yeah? What is it?” I asked, somewhat amused that I was mirroring my twin now.

“So, about Mulan’s world...I think that might be your homeworld.” Sora said, and what?!

Seeing that I was currently the human equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death, Kairi took over the explanation. “You’ve mentioned China before as one of the countries on your world, and, well, Mulan lives there. So we might have actually found your homeworld!” she finished excitedly.

Oh. Oh. Yeah I see where they could’ve gotten that, but really, that wasn’t the case.

“I wish it were. But no, that’s not Earth.” I said mournfully.

“What do you mean?” Sora asked.

“Well, for one thing, imperial China is something that’s long been relegated to the history books. And remember what I said about Earth being farther ahead of Destiny Islands technology-wise? The Feudal China of Mulan’s world is far behind that.” I explained.

“Oh.” Sora said, looking dejected. I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright. It was an easy mistake to make.”

“I know. But…” Sora mumbled.

“We were just hoping that you’d been wrong, and that we’d actually found it.” Kairi added sadly. “Your home.”

“Home is where the heart is. I can’t ever get back to my old universe, to my family, but I have you guys. You’re my family too. That’s where home is.” I told them.

“Yeah. Sorry it wasn’t your world after all.” Kairi said.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” I said. “Now, what world do you think we’re headed to next?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Well, the gateway was a weapon. The first one was the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee card...and we had to restore Beast to his senses, right?” Sora asked. “So maybe this is something to do with a weapon, or fighting, or- oh!” Sora blinked, before a wide grin spread across his face. “Olympus Coliseum! That’s all about fighting - that’s gotta be where we’re going!” he cheered.

“What’s Olympus Coliseum?” Kairi asked curiously.

“It’s a place where heroes fight to prove how strong they are! We helped Hercules and Phil way back before we found you two on Hollow Bastion, and trained there for a bit. We should do the same again, so we can get used to pulling off combo stuff like we did with Shan-Yu.” Sora said.

Yeah, anyone who thinks Sora is stupid is an idiot. Optimistic and goofy, yes, but stupid? He wouldn’t have been able to pull off half the things he has and will do if he were. Or still be alive, for that matter.

“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed. We rejoined the others near the front of the ship - turns out Branwen was a natural at flying the spaceship, awesome - and passed the time with idle conversation and blasting Heartless out of our way until we landed. And yup, Sora was right - this was definitely Olympus Coliseum. The world, that is, not the place. I know the Underworld has a coliseum too but it was definitely not the place. 

Maybe that’s how we’d gotten mixed up on landing?

“Ugh, this place reeks.” I complained, wrinkling my nose at the cloying, almost overpowering smell of dank, damp earth. Rather fitting for where we were, actually. 

“Gawrsh, are you sure this is Olympus Coliseum?” Goofy asked uncertainly.

“So this creepy place isn’t what it looks like normally?” Branwen asked.

“No, not at all.” Sora answered, frowning. Donald walked in front of us, before pointing a finger ahead.

“It’s that way!” he declared confidently, before marching on. After a moment of confusion I followed, and couldn’t help but ask the obvious question.

“Hang on, how do you know, Donald?”

“Well, those doors do look like the way out of here. Guess we were a little off.” Sora said, and I immediately felt like an idiot for missing those somehow. It wasn’t like they were hidden or anything!

“Sorry.” Branwen mumbled, wincing.

“No, it’s alright, you-”

The shriek of a woman cut Sora off, stopping all of us in our tracks, and we glanced around in an effort to pinpoint where it had come from. There, it was Meg - being chased by a bunch of Heartless! Barking, doggy Heartless. Bad Dogs - literally.

“We’ve gotta help her!” Kairi said, materializing her staff and charging in.

“Wait up!” I protested, Midnight Blue in hand as I chased after her. The Heartless were easily dispatched before they could do more than look up in confusion (seriously, there were six of us and three of them, they stood no chance) and Branwen happily extended a hand to Meg.

“Here. Are you okay?” He asked. Meg just shook her head, brushing her hair back.

“Thanks, but, I’m fine.” she said, brushing him off, much to Branwen’s dismay. She only gave him a glance before picking herself up and turning to the rest of us. “So, who are you all supposed to be?”

“I’m Kairi, and these are my adopted brothers Sora, Branwen, and Riku, and my friends Donald and Goofy.” Kairi said, introducing all of us. “What’s your name?”

“Megara. Friends call me Meg. So what are a bunch of kids doing down here in a place like this?” Meg asked.

“Oh. Well, we’re here to see how Hercules is doing. And to train. Our group’s a lot bigger now.” Sora said, putting his hands back behind his head with a grin.

“You know Wonderboy?” Meg asked in surprise.

“Well, half of us do.” I shrugged. Meg just gave a little laugh in response.

“Well, looks like most of us have a friend in common.” she said.

“So, what are you doing down here then, Meg?” Goofy asked. A worried expression crossed Meg’s face.

“Wonderboy’s been working himself down to the bone. Doesn’t matter how strong you are, even heroes need rest.” she said.

“Hear, hear.” I said. Meg just gave me a quizzical look before moving on.

“I came here to beg Hades to lay off a bit, but...well, it's more dicey than I thought. Guess Hades doesn’t like visitors.” she added, looking rather annoyed by this. 

“Yeah, it’s dangerous down here. But we can go talk to him instead!” Donald suggested.

“You will? Thanks. I appreciate it.” Meg said, giving him a smile. “I’ll be getting out of here then. We’re counting on you.” And with that, Meg went straight over to the doors and started up the inclined path beyond them. Not that I blamed her, this place was...well. 

“‘Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more’.” I couldn’t help but murmur, the lines of a mostly-forgotten poem coming to mind. Branwen just gave me a quizzical look.

“Where’d you hear that?” he asked. I just gave a wistful little smile in response.

“Oh...it’s something I heard a long time ago. Long before I met our siblings here.” I answered. Sora and Kairi exchanged a significant look, understanding this to mean I’d gotten it from Earth.

...I needed to tell Branwen. I wanted to, don’t get me wrong, but...I couldn’t while we were in Twilight Town, since DiZ definitely had eyes all over the mansion and who knows where else in the town, and I couldn’t tell him now because Donald and Goofy were here with us. 

I don’t...this is something really personal, you know? It’s not something you just shout out for the world to hear. And I didn’t trust Donald and Goofy not to tell others they trusted - and I didn’t trust that the residents of Disney Castle could keep my secret. Oh it wouldn’t be on purpose, I knew that, but...all it took was one slip up. And the more who knew, the more likely it was to get out. 

And besides...this was something I’d only be comfortable sharing with my family. Those closest to my heart. And since Branwen was family, he deserved to know too. You don’t...you don’t keep secrets from family. At least, you don’t only tell some of them and not the others. Not unless there’s a dang good reason to.

(I just wished I’d had the courage to tell my parents, before all of this. Now I never could.)

Of course, the sight of an Organization member dashing across the tunnel we were walking through in front of us immediately pulled me out of my thoughts. Hello, Demyx.

“The Organization!” Donald shouted.

“Another Organization member?” Kairi asked, scowling.

“Yeah. Let’s go after him.” Sora said, much to our agreement.

“Right behind you.” Branwen replied, and we took off down the tunnel after the music-loving Nobody. Granted, we had Heartless in the way slowing us down, but we made pretty good time regardless I think.

Of course, once we came out into the larger room, it was to have Demyx barrel towards us in clear terror. The party tensed, weapons already drawn from battling Heartless in the tunnels, but I knew we didn’t have to worry.

“Run! Run away!” he shouted, terror clear in his voice, before vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness at the stairs leading into the room.

“Okay…?” Sora said, clearly confused.

“Must not be good if he was scared.” Donald grumbled.

“Well, maybe Hades just scared ‘im off. He might’ve been trying to do the same thing to him that Xaldin did to the Beast!” Goofy suggested.

“Yeah, maybe.” I agreed, because I honestly didn’t remember what it was Demyx was doing down here. “Let’s just keep moving for now.”

Unfortunately, the next room we ran into gave me chills down the spine. And not the normal chills, I mean chills. Something unearthly and terrifying, and I didn’t even realize I’d made a sound or wrapped my arms around myself until everyone turned to look back at me.

“Riku? Are you okay?” Sora asked, concerned.

“Do you...do you feel that?” I asked, scared.

“Feel what?” Branwen asked.

“I-I don’t feel anything.” Donald said, shuddering.

“Oh really?” Branwen asked him, an eyebrow raised in clear disbelief.

“Really!” Donald protested.

“I think we’re all just scared.” Goofy said, causing Donald to immediately round on him.

“I’m not scared!” he shouted.

“I just…” I shuddered, before my eyes widened in utter shock as I heard whispers. Whispers in the back of my head, in my bones, resonating in my very soul…

Why are you afraid, when peace is right before you?

Is it really so bad, to let go, to rest? Death isn’t something to fear, you know that. 

Just a few steps, that’s all you need to do. Just a few steps to free yourself from all the burdens of the living. 

Come down, little one. Come take the peace that was stolen from you. 

Death isn’t scary, just come down, fall asleep. You’ll be alright. 

“I-I...they’re calling me.” I whispered, horrified. “They’re calling.”

“Calling you?” Sora asked, looking around in concern. “Where?”

“Down...down there!” I wailed, pointing over the cliff at the River Styx below. “In the river!”

“What?” Sora asked, before looking over the edge of the cliff, at the vortex of souls in the river Styx below, gasping as the implications dawned on him. 

“What are you-?” Kairi started to ask, peeking down there, before she paled. “Sora, wh-what is that?!”

“Are...are those dead people?” Branwen asked apprehensively. 

“I-I...we need to get Riku out of here.” Sora said anxiously. 

“But what about Hades?” Goofy asked. 

“It doesn’t matter!”

“But we promised Meg we’d talk to him.” Goofy pointed out. Sora just made a noise of frustration, clearly torn. 

“I’ll be, I’ll be fine. Let’s just finish up and go.” I said, shivering. Ignoring the voices only I could hear. 

Come back to where you belong. 

“If you’re sure…” Sora said, looking at me in concern. When I nodded, Sora took a couple of steps forward before shouting, “Hades! Come out!”

Of course, he didn’t. Not at all.

“Hey, Sora...do you think he’s up there?” Kairi asked, pointing at the castle-fortress-thing on the cliffs above us, on the other side of the cavern.

“Probably. Let’s go.” Donald said, before marching onward. The rest of us followed, glad to leave this freaky place behind.

Oh, little one. Do you truly wish to leave?

Shut up.

~*~

The higher we got in the castle, the stronger the smell of darkness got, and the more Heartless we had to clear out. Which, you know, made sense. They were basically Hades’s army after all.

“You’re fired!!” We heard Hades roar as we rounded the corner, climbing up the last of the stairs in time to see him locked in a sort of blade lock with Auron, hands against sword, both pushing with all their strength to overcome the other.

I was actually expecting Hades to smell entirely dark, but to my surprise, he smelled very similar to Branwen. In hindsight that made sense; he wasn’t the god of darkness, after all. And you didn’t have to be dark to be evil. 

“That Hades?” Branwen asked with a growl, Midnight Blue appearing in his hands.

“Without a doubt!” Donald confirmed. Hades looked up, startled.

“You again?!” he yelped, losing focus at a critical moment. Auron pressed his advantage, throwing Hades off his blade before lunging in and slicing him with his giant sword. Hades crossed his arms in a block to mitigate the damage, but was still pushed back several feet by the force of the blow.

“Fight.” Auron snarled. He charged in again, only this time, Hades was ready for him. He caught Auron’s blade in one hand, before throwing him aside. When Auron tried to attack him again, Hades fended him off with a fire-filled hand, overpowering Auron and sending him flying back into the walls of the cavern.

With a terrible snarl on his face, the fire in Hades’s hands grew hotter and more powerful as he prepared to finish Auron off. My little brother was quick to place himself between them, Kingdom Key at the ready.

“Get up!” he told Auron, before the battle began.

Okay, how did Branwen do this again…I pulled my light forward, rather than my darkness like he had, surrounding myself in its blue-white glow. Which was just sitting against my skin, not flaring up into an aura. I tried pushing farther, extending its reach, but it fought me, not wanting to stretch. And unlike with Branwen, there was still no surge of strength in me.

Just a glow extending a bit further out than before. 

Great, figure that out later, fight now! Dropping my light, which snapped back to sitting comfortably as a glow around me, I summoned Midnight Blue to my hand before joining in the melee, ducking under Auron’s sword to knock Hades smack in the ribs. He didn’t appreciate that. Obviously. With a roar, he summoned fire in his hands and threw it at me - I just barely got a Blizzard cast in front of me in time. Water soaked the area, including me.

“Thunda-!”

“Not me!!” I shrieked, diving out of the way just in time for Donald’s spell to hit the puddle I’d been standing in. Given the ear-splitting scream that ensued, clearly audible over Hades’s roar of rage and pain, I wasn’t the only one in our group who’d been standing in the water. 

“Sorry Sora! Cura!” Donald apologized, quickly casting the healing spell on my little brother.

“It’s fine!” I heard him say, and wait, could I dry myself with an Aero? A weak one, obviously.

Turns out the answer is yes. Sweet.

A cry of pain caught my attention then, and my eyes widened to see Branwen struggling in Hades’s fiery grip.

“Let go of him!!” I roared, lunging in with Midnight Blue and slamming it into Hades’s face as hard as I possibly could. He dropped Branwen with a shout of pain, turning to fix rage-filled eyes on me.

“You- what?” Hades said, the rage turning to confusion. Whatever didn’t care.

“Cure!” I cast, healing Branwen.

“Thanks!” he replied, turning to Kairi. “Let’s do this together! Ready?”

“Ready! Aero!”

“Dark Fire!”

“Thundaga!” 

The combined spells already had Hades staggering back in pain; Donald’s added retaliation just made it all the worse. Not to mention Sora knocking the wind out of him with a well-placed strike straight to the gut.

Of course, that’s when things started to go wrong.

“What...what is this?” Kairi asked, a strange dark light blossoming around her, and us. The only one immune was Auron, which made sense since he was dead, right? Pretty sure. 

“I don’t...know.” I said through gritted teeth, the cloying, icy pull draining the strength from my body. From all of ours. 

Of course you do, can’t you feel it?

“Oh shut up!” I snarled, before everyone looked at me in confusion. Oh, great.

“You hear the whispers of the dead?” Auron asked curiously.

“Riku what?!” Donald yelped.

“Well, that explains why he was so scared back at that river in the cave!” Goofy said, which thanks a lot, Goofy, for announcing that to the entire room.

“See, that’s the thing, he shouldn’t.” Hades frowned, leaning in to get a closer look at me. His expression lit up and he snapped his fingers. “Ah-ha! That’s it! You’re dead!” he said triumphantly, and my blood ran cold.

“No I’m not!”

“No he’s not!” Sora, Kairi, and I snarled in unison. My heart was beating out of my chest - I should’ve known, if anyone was going to be able to tell that I hadn’t always numbered among the living it was going to be Hades.  

Why hadn’t that occurred to me sooner?!

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I’m the God of the Dead. It’s in the job description to know these kinds of things.” Hades said dismissively. “Now, I don’t know how you got back to the land of the living, but I’ll just correct that little problem now.”

“Riku run!” Sora howled as Hades barreled toward me, fire in his hands. I didn’t hesitate, turning to run down the hall - only to run smack into Hades.

“Ah-ah-ah!” Hades said, shaking a finger at me, before grabbing me by the throat. I choked, my hands flying up to his and uselessly trying to break his grip. “You see, dead people aren’t allowed to- ahhhh!” 

Thank heavens for Auron!

“Go, all of you!” Auron snapped, greatsword at the ready and - hang on, he’d had his left arm in a sling-type sleeve this whole time?! The heck?!

“Don’t have to tell us twice!” Kairi said, grabbing me by the arm and yanking me towards the door.

“But, don’t we have to-?” Branwen started to protest, only to get shoved by Auron toward the exit.

“Just go! We can’t beat him here.” Auron said. I heard the sound of fireballs crashing behind me, but since there were no pained screams they must have missed.

Thankfully there were no Heartless on the way down, since we’d just cleared them out beforehand. Getting out of the castle, Sora and Donald wasted no time in shoving the doors shut behind us with a dull boom.

Why do you run from what is your right?

Your rest was taken from you, stolen from you. Don’t you want it back?

“Is, is he gone?” Donald panted.

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Auron growled.

“What? Ah!” Sora yelped as Hades teleported right next to us.

“Leaving so soon?” He asked, before grabbing my right wrist, quick as a flash. Holding me off the ground by the wrist like one would hold a snake behind the head to keep me from attacking him with Midnight Blue.

“Let go!” I snarled, dematerializing my keyblade before resummoning it in my off hand, swinging it up at Hades’s face and forcing him to either let go of me or get hit in the face. Obviously, he picked the former. No one likes getting hit in the face.

“Get away from my brother!” Kairi roared, blasting Hades with an impressively large Blizzard.

“Careful, Kairi!” I warned. She’d overpowered that - it was stronger than a normal Blizzard, but it wasn’t a Blizzara; just dangerous and draining on her reserves. Donald had made that very clear in his lessons.

“I don’t know what his problem is with you, but we better run, and fast.” Auron said.

“Right behind you!” Goofy agreed, and with a final charge at Hades, we broke through and ran. Donald freezing him to the wall with a nicely-placed Blizzaga was just the icing on the cake. That would buy us time to get the heck out of here.

Panting, we barreled through the cavernous tunnels, not daring to stop for a moment until we’d gotten out into the main cave. Exhausted and gasping for breath, I bent over panting, not daring to sit down like Sora and Donald were doing - Goofy was even lying flat on his back!

“Get, get up. It’s not safe, get up.” I said, gasping for breath as my glow faded away, my light returning to my heart now that I had a moment to breathe.

There is nowhere else safer than here.

Ugh, seriously? I’m not dead anymore so just leave me the heck alone!

“He’s right. We’re not out of the woods yet.” Auron said grimly.

“Yeahh...you’re really good. Are you...some kind of hero?” Sora asked, picking himself up off the floor.

Auron closed his eyes - or, really, just the one working eye - and slowly shook his head in response, opening said eye again. “No. I’m no hero...I’m just an…” he trailed off, leaving us in silence for several seconds, before speaking again. “Auron.”

“Huh?” Donald asked, confused at the seemingly random word.

“Auron. My name.” Auron clarified.

“I’m Sora.” my little brother grinned, before Donald jumped on top of him.

“Donald!” he cheered, only to yelp as Goofy decided it’d be a good idea to jump on top of him.

“Goofy!” he added. Sora strained to keep standing before buckling under the combined weight of the two of them and collapsing into a heap on the floor.

“Guys!” I said worriedly, reaching out both hands to the trio.

“We’re fine.” Sora said, he and Donald each accepting a hand before I pulled them up off the floor.

“Sorry, only got two hands.” I explained sheepishly to Goofy.

“Oh it’s alright.” he said, waving me off.

“That’s my twin brother Riku, this is Kairi, and I’m Branwen.” my twin added, covering the rest of us who hadn’t been introduced.

“Riku...Hades is unusually interested in you.” Auron commented. I just groaned in response.

“Don’t I know it.” I grumbled.

“He seems to think you’re dead.” Auron added, in the same tone as one would have when simply commenting on the weather.

“Yeah, well, he’s wrong.” I said.

“Yeah, Riku’s not dead.” Kairi agreed.

“He’s probably just angry we beat him up last time we were here.” Sora added.

But you know better. You-

“Will you just quit it?!” I snarled. Auron just raised an eyebrow in response.

“Seems the dead are usually interested in you too.” he commented. “Wonder why they think you belong with them? That you were taken from them?”

Nuggeeeeets. He was dead, of course he was hearing them too. Which meant Hades was augh!

“Look, does Riku look like a ghost to you?” Sora snapped. “If he was actually dragged out of here he wouldn’t still be alive!” Donald and Goofy just glanced at each other as Auron came over to me to take a closer look.

“Gawrsh, if Riku were dead, why, he wouldn’t be here with us!” Goofy said.

“No kidding. I wouldn’t even be here either.” Branwen added. Auron just studied me with a steady gaze, before speaking again.

“Hm. It seems you are among the living. Interesting.” Auron mused. “Maybe you need a guardian, Riku.”

“Whatever gets me out of here still alive.” I answered, more than a little relieved at the offer.

“Great. Now let's get out of here before Hades comes back.” Sora said, leading the way to the stairs leading up to the next tunnel. I was close enough to see Auron smile in response before following us out.

We emerged out in the main antechamber of the Underworld, right before the entrance room. Only this time, the serrated doors were naturally chained up and locked tight. Wonderful.

“Oh come on!” Donald complained. Auron looked apprehensive.

“We’re not done for yet.” he insisted. “Do you know another way out?”

“We don’t need to. We’ve got keyblades, so we’ll just unlock them.” Branwen grumbled, before materializing Midnight Blue.

“You can unlock that?” Auron asked.

“All of us keybearers can.” Sora answered.

“Meaning only half of us.” Kairi giggled.

Loud growling cut us off, and turning toward the noise revealed none other than Ceberus responsible, teeth bared and readying himself for the attack. 

“He really doesn’t want us to leave, does he?” Donald asked rhetorically as we readied our weapons.

“Hurry and open the door kid. We’ll keep this off you!” Auron ordered.

“Right!” Branwen said, turning to face the giant double doors blocking our way. He was quick to raise Midnight Blue, a beam of light shooting from his keyblade and into the lock, before said lock vanished into light. Donald, Goofy, and I were equally as quick to start pushing on the serrated teeth doors, sliding them open. I could hear the sounds of Auron and the others working to keep Ceberus off us behind me.

“It’s open!” I hollered, and we all pelted through. As Ceberus lunged at Auron, Goofy actually threw his freaking shield like Captain America and nailed the middle head square between the eyes. The shield hit the floor before bouncing back awkwardly but close enough for Goofy to grab after that hit, thankfully, while the other two heads were trying to figure out what to do about their unconscious middle one.

I couldn’t help but bark out a startled laugh when Sora, Branwen, Donald, and Goofy started making stupid faces at the guard dog of the Underworld as the doors slid closed. Enraged, Cerberus lunged at the doors, but it was too late. They were shut tight.

“This is the entrance room, right?” Kairi asked. 

“Yeah. All that’s left to do is- wh-where are the doors?!” I choked, eyes widening in horror at the realization that they weren’t here.

“What do you mean, they’re right here.” Goofy said, pointing - and oh, there they were. The heck? I swear that had been a wall before!

“You know, only the living can actually find the entrance to the Underworld.” Auron commented.

“Ugh, will you quit that already?!” I snarled. “You already know I’m still alive!”

“Yes. Perhaps...you’ve had a rather close shave with death recently, haven’t you Riku?” Auron mused. The time where I’d been just a heart in the Realm of Darkness came to mind, except…I hadn’t actually been attacked? Not until I’d found Mickey. Which was weirding me out honestly because exposed heart in the Realm of Darkness, but considering how crappy I’d felt as one in there - so sick and awful that I’d just wanted to curl up and never move again - well. It was a good thing I’d gotten my body back before I ran into Mickey.

I swallowed. “Y-yeah, but...that was months ago.” And if I had nightmares just from that, of wandering alone and unprotected in the dark for such a brief period of time, how bad would Aqua’s be when we could finally get her out?

Why couldn’t she have been there?!

“I see. Yes, that would explain things. Why you can hear the dead, why they think you were stolen from them, and why Hades thinks it is in his right to claim you.” Auron said. Which, yes if you squint but also very much no.

“Well whatever the case, let’s just get out of here.” Branwen said, starting to move to the doors. We all followed, glad to leave the Underworld behind and start the ascent back into the land of the living.

However, just a few steps up the slope, we were interrupted by a yelp from Kairi.

“Guys! Where’s Auron?!” 

We all immediately turned around to look at her declaration, worried. And sure enough, the path was empty. No Auron.

“What happened to him? I swear he was right behind us.” Sora asked, clearly worried.

“Do you think we should go back for him?” Goofy asked. Kairi shot a quick look at me before shaking her head.

“No. The doors are still open; if Auron wanted to follow us out, he would have.” she pointed out. “Maybe he still has things to do down there.”

“Maybe…” I said uneasily. I knew Auron was dead, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t come out of the Underworld with us, right? I mean, Nick had mentioned something about him being an Unsent, from some other Final Fantasy game I think? Something about the dead remaining in the world of the living or something along those lines, I couldn’t quite remember. 

But that would explain Auron being in ‘the slammer’ in Kingdom Hearts though, and left me with no doubts as to where Hades would throw me if he managed to capture me.

The thought of leaving Auron behind to potentially face that fate made me incredibly apprehensive, but...well, like Kairi said, if he’d wanted to come with us, he would have. And hadn’t he had some unfinished business down there anyway? Or was that just where he was staying cause he was dead? Augh, I hated not remembering! “We’ll just have to respect his decision. Now come on, I don’t want to see that place again for the rest of my life.” I said, turning back to resume the climb.

Chapter Text

Once we’d actually gotten to the Coliseum, it was to find Meg in the waiting area, sitting on a small pedestal and looking depressed. As soon as she spotted us though, that changed.

“You guys! Did you do it?” she asked. Our expressions just kinda fell in response, and hers did as well. “Oh no.”

“We tried. But Hades didn’t want to talk - and he tried to take Riku, too!” Sora huffed, clearly still angry about this.

“What? Why?” Meg asked, stunned.

“That dummy kept saying Riku was dead.” Donald complained.

“He...what?” Meg asked, turning her head to look curiously at me. The realization that we were the same - both former dead who had returned to the living - hit me with all the force of a sledgehammer, taking my breath away.

No wonder Hades had been so determined to keep me down there, not after recently having lost his hold on Meg!

So then, should I...well, not tell her, but at least talk with her? Or should I just- I mean-

Wouldn’t I want someone who shared this experience with me to?

“Yeah, and I’m not.” I grumbled, ignoring the suddenly brittle look in Meg’s eyes. “Why don’t you guys try to talk Hercules down, and ask Phil if we can train here. There’s something I’d like to ask Meg.”

“You sure?” Donald asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. I’ll be out with you guys in a minute.” I assured him.

“Wonderboy’s match should be about to end, so you should wait here.” Meg explained, before getting off the pedestal. “I won’t keep your friend for long, don’t worry.” 

With that, I turned and followed Meg outside the Coliseum, further away from the building itself but not outside its gates. I took in a breath to steel my nerves, before turning back to Meg.

“So, I’m guessing you weren’t always not dead?” Meg asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. I lived, died, and then somehow came back again. Not as who I once was, but as a newborn.” I explained. “I don’t look at all like I used to, but it’s still me inside.”

“Yeah, but some time ago, I had to cast my old form away. Been through plenty more semblances since, but it’s still me underneath it all.”

Blergh, I did not need that comparison brain.

“I see. I probably don’t need to ask you this, since it's clear the rest of your friends don’t know, but don’t exactly go spreading this around. Wonderboy knows since he’s the one who got me out of that mess, but that’s it. It’s no business of anyone else’s.” Meg said.

“Trust me, I know the feeling. Two of my siblings - Sora and Kairi - they know, but the others don’t. And as soon as I get the opportunity I’ll be filling Branwen in as well.” I finished.

“Your twin right? Gotcha. So, why don’t you share how you died first? And then I’ll tell you mine?” Meg asked. After a moment, I nodded. 

“Okay. I got really sick, with this wasting disease that was slowly killing me. So my parents took me to the d- the healers to get help, and they found out that just one part of me was sick, something I didn’t need to live. They couldn’t risk the rot spilling out, so they gave me medicine to shrink it down, and once it was small enough they were just gonna go in and cut out the one part of the organ it was in so the rest of me would survive, and stitch up the hole they’d cut to get in from. It was a simple procedure, one commonly done.” I explained, before sighing. “Obviously, something went wrong during it. As for what, I don’t know, since I was too busy being dead at the time.” I finished. 

“So that’s what happened...” Meg mused, before looking back up at me. “Right. As for me, well, long story short, I sold my soul to Hades to save my boyfriend at the time from death, only for him to run off on me shortly after.” Meg said bitterly. “It wasn’t until I met Wonderboy that I finally felt like I could live again. And when Hades coerced him into temporarily giving up his godly strength and battling against a cyclops for my safety, I shoved him out of the way of a collapsing pillar and, well, was crushed.” she admitted, before grimacing. 

“It was…not a quick death, I’ll tell you that much. Wonderboy though, Wonderboy came after me. And after he nearly killed himself saving me from the River Styx, well, that was apparently enough for him to regain his godhood. He gave up that godhood, you know. To be with me.” Meg added, still sounding a little awed about it. At what he’d given up, for her.

“No wonder Hades was so mad.” I chuckled. We both gave each other small smiles at that; two people bonding over a shared experience the rest of the world could never understand. “Even though I didn’t just straight up come back to life like you did, I guess Hades felt I was in enough of a loophole that he could take me.”

“Seems so. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was out of spite. Your brother did show him up the last time he was here.” Meg agreed. I laughed.

“Yeah, that he did.” I said, before growing serious. “It’s...well, I’m glad we could talk. Like this, I mean. Telling others is one thing, but talking with someone who went through the same - or at least, similar enough - experience is just...something else.”

“Don’t I know it.” Meg groaned. “I’m not quite sure how it happened with you, since last I checked you’re supposed to come back to life as you were, but hey, whatever works. Clearly the gods had something for you in mind. And besides, we both managed to nicely spit in Hades’s eye, now didn’t we? Even if I had a little help on my end.” she finished with a smile.

“Haha, that’s true.” I laughed, though what she’d said, about the gods having some plan for me, that really struck home. Was this a plan of some higher power? Or had I just slipped through the cosmic cracks somewhere?

At that moment, the Coliseum doors opened, and out came Hercules and the rest of my friends.

“Meg, hello! And you must be Riku, right?” Hercules asked, coming over to us. I nodded happily.

“Yup! Nice to meet you.” I said sincerely.

“Well, good news is, you guys can train here all you like. As for the Olympus Stone, I can go up Mt. Olympus to get that for you.” he said, directing this at Sora.

“Wait, Olympus what?” I asked, taken aback by the sudden topic change.

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t know. The Olympus Stone counters the curse in the Underworld. We’d be able to go down there without getting weakened.” Sora explained.

“Oh, nice.” I grinned. That was right, that was the medal thing - or I guess stone? - that Demyx had stolen. I couldn’t wait until we got it back.

“Yeah. But while we wait, we’ve gotta train together. There’s a lot more of us now.” Donald pointed out.

“Definitely.” I nodded. “Well, lead the way guys.” Heading out into the arena, we were met by the sight of Phil fiddling with what looked like Heartless-inspired training dummies. Nice.

“Hey champ, how ya feelin’?” Phil asked, which took me off guard. “Better rest up for tomorrow’s match. Nobody’s gonna pay to see a worn out hero...capiche?”

“Wha- w-we’re not Hercules!” Branwen burst out laughing.

“Eh?” Phil asked, whirling around, before his eyes fell on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Hey, if it ain’t the junior heroes!” he laughed, coming over to give Sora a hug.

“Junior heroes?” Kairi questioned, confused.

“Yup! We earned that title here at the Coliseum!” Goofy grinned. “We’re not quite up to snuff for bein’ real heroes, though.”

“You people saved-” I cut myself off, rather annoyed about not being able to say everything I felt about this. “You three stopped Ansem from destroying the world. If that doesn’t make you a hero, then what does?”

“Wait what?” Phil asked, startled. 

“Eheh. Yeahhh, that was a mess.” Sora said sheepishly.

“Well I don’t know anythin’ about this ‘Ansem’ fella, but good work!” Phil said. “I suppose...well. Saving the world is definitely a prerequisite for being a hero. Alright!” he nodded, clapping his hands together. “Yup, congratulations. You three’ve made it!”

“We have?!” 

“Yeah!!” Goofy and Donald cheered, while Sora just laughed and grabbed the pair in a group hug.

“Guess that makes us the junior ones this time.” Kairi chuckled at seeing the celebration.

“Well I don’t know about that. See, you gotta earn that title, you know?” Phil said, before turning to the others. “I’m guessing you’re here to get used to working together as a larger group?”

“You bet!” Sora grinned. “We’re also here to work on getting the timing of combination attacks down.”

Phil gave us all an excited grin. “That’s what I like to hear! C’mon, I got just the thing for you here…”

~*~

I frowned, sitting on the step in front of the exit of the arena and glowing like an industrial lightbulb, but otherwise not feeling any different. I mean, pushing my light out from myself in an attempt to activate an aura like Branwen’s had been tiring, given that it’d wanted to snap back against my skin like a rubber band the entire time, but that didn’t actually do anything as far as auras went. Just covered more ground.

“How exactly did you manage to do it? Draw on your darkness to strengthen you?” I asked Branwen, who was next to me, practicing with his Fira. Sora and Kairi were dueling in the background, instructions from Donald washing over me like white noise. Something about learning Slow, our first status spell - which I’d get to in a bit, once I’d figured this out. 

“I don’t know. I just...did it?” Branwen frowned. “I mean, all I had to do was reach for it, and it came. Strength and all. It kinda just...flowed into me.”

“Hmm. Maybe I should try this with darkness first, where you can help me see what I’m doing wrong.” I said, leaning forward before I drew mine out, landing on all four paws.

“Can you draw on it more?” Branwen asked. “Maybe you’re just not pulling enough.”

<Branwen, I don’t have any more to pull.> I deadpanned. <When I draw on either side I draw on all of it. It’s all out here.>

“Huh...maybe it's because it's maintaining your dark form?” Branwen wondered. “I mean, you get the same darkness resistance boost and light resistance drop that I do like this, but maybe instead of strength it just changes your shape?”

<Well what’s the purpose of that then?> I grumbled, sitting down on my haunches, before it dawned on me. <Wait, I don’t. I don’t!>

“What do you mean, you don’t?” Branwen wondered. I grinned at him in excitement from the memory that had just come to the surface, the movement pulling my lips back in an accidental baring of teeth. At least it wasn’t a full snarl?

<Zexion tried to burn me up with light remember? Except I took this form by drawing out my darkness like a shield, and it protected me.> I reminded him. 

“Wait, what?” Branwen blinked, before comprehension dawned. “Wait that’s right! It did!” he crowed, before turning to me. “That’s gotta be boosting your light resistance by like, a lot then. So does that mean your light does the same, except boosting dark resistance instead of light?”

<Only one way to find out.> I said, getting up and swapping out darkness for light. “Let’s see just how much of a resistance I have. I know I was switching back and forth when I was fighting Ansem because his attacks hurt less when I was in the opposite alignment, but I want to figure out how much. And since we’re the only ones who can work dark magic, it’s gotta be you shooting me.” I explained. 

“Makes sense.” Branwen shrugged, before getting to his feet. “So what exactly do you need me to do?”

“Okay, so you’re gonna hit me with a Blizzard first. I’ll Cure, and then hit me with a Dark Blizzard. We’ll see how much of a difference the two attacks make.”

“Got it. Ready?” Branwen asked. I nodded. “Blizzard!” I winced as the icy cold blast of magic struck me, but after spending so long getting attacked in this life it didn’t bother me nearly as much as it would have even back in Hollow Bastion.

“Great. Cure.” I said, the soothing green of healing magic doing its blessed work. Seriously, I loved Cure. “Now for the dark spell.”

“Dark Blizzard.” Branwen dutifully cast, sending the black ice to collide with my chest. I blinked. That did...pretty much nothing at all.

“Well there we go. Sweet.” I said with a wide grin. Branwen was grinning back just as eagerly. “Let’s try darkness this time.”

One reversed repeat later, and it was confirmed. Attacks of the opposite alignment did significantly less damage than when I was normal or drawing on the same alignment. 

“Alright, let’s see if you get an attribute boost like I do when you’re drawing on your light and darkness.” Branwen suggested. “I’ll be the test dummy this time.”

<Alright.> I chuckled, the sound a series of choppy, rumbling barks, before aiming my spell. <Dark Blizzard!> Branwen duly cast Cure, and then it was time for the next one. <Blizzard!>

Except…nothing happened. Branwen and I both blinked. <Blizzard!> I tried again, but nope, nothing. The mana was there, gathered up and ready to cast, but it just wasn’t…actually doing so.

“That’s weird.” Branwen muttered. “Is it like that with your light too?”

<Guess we’ll find out.> I said, before fur and fangs melted back into my skin, light flooding out to replace them. Instead of hitting Branwen, I turned my aim to the ground in front of us. “Blizzard! Dark Blizzard!” One ice boulder bounced across the ground; the second didn’t even trigger. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I grumbled. “What’s with this?”

“Hmmm…oh, I think I get it!” Branwen said, and I looked over at him curiously. “Instead of giving you a strength boost and an attribute boost like mine, yours locks you out of spells and attacks of the opposite alignment but gives you a crazy resistance boost!” he crowed. “That’s gotta be why you can’t power up like I do!”

“I think you might be right.” I said, looking with new eyes at the glow around my hand. “And it kinda makes sense too, I think? I mean, there’s gotta be some kind of consequence for the kind of resistance boost I get, it might as well be this. At least Cure doesn’t count as light or dark, I’ve been able to cast it while drawing on both alignments.”

“Yeah, for sure.” Branwen nodded, before beaming at me. “Mystery solved!” 

“Mystery solved.” I agreed with a smile, before giving the others a glance. “Now that that’s taken care of, we should get back to mastering Slow and second-level spells. Thanks for taking the time to sit out and help me with this.” I told him gratefully. Branwen just laughed.

“Hey, that’s what brothers are for!” he beamed. “Besides, I’m glad we got this figured out. Now come on, let’s get back to learning some magic!” he cheered, before racing over to where Donald, Kairi, Sora, and Goofy were.

“Wait for me!” I yelled back, voice full of laughter as I charged right after him.

I loved this beautiful second life of mine.

~*~

“Hey! How’re you all doing?” Hercules said, coming into the arena while we were all on water break.

“Exhausted.” I groaned, rubbing my sore head from where Goofy had gotten in a well-timed blow to my skull when I’d failed to put up a Reflect in time - something else Donald had taught us in these training sessions - before grinning. “But completely worth it.”

“Of course it’s worth it.” Phil chuckled. “You’ve seen my results first-hand.”

“Yeah…” Branwen chuckled, before turning a tired grin on Donald. “I owe you so...so much man.”

“Nah, it was nothin’. S’bout time you guys learned Slow, Reflect, and the next level of the Basic Three anyway.” Donald said tiredly, waving him off. “Cura an’ Aerora are next...once you get these down.”

“So...did you get the stone for us, Herc?” Sora asked his friend. Hercules winced. Well.

“Sorry. It was stolen by some person in black.” Hercules apologized, and several of us groaned.

“The Organization again?” Kairi complained.

“Why are they always getting in the way?!” Donald snapped angrily.

“You know who this thief is?” Hercules asked. Branwen nodded.

“Yeah. Well, not the person specifically, but he’s part of a bigger group calling themselves Organization Thirteen. They’ve been causing havoc everywhere they go.” he explained.

“Yeah, they’re a major threat. Which is why we’re trying to stop them.” Sora explained. “Anyway, do you know where the thief went off to?”

“The Underworld.” Hercules said grimly. I just groaned.

“Can’t I just stay behind?” I asked rhetorically in a plaintive whine.

“Yeah.” Kairi said blithely, shocking me into giving her a double-take.

“Wait what?!”

Kairi just gave me a look. “Dude, Hades tried to kidnap you. Why would we make you go back down there?” she asked. Which, yeah, but…

“Riku, it’s alright. You’ve helped us before. Let us help you this time.” Sora said, taking my hand. I just looked down, the familiar shame pooling my heart.

“No, I wasn’t-” I cut myself off with a yelp as Sora whacked me upside the head.

“How many times do I have to tell you? You were fast enough. I’m fine. Branwen’s fine. Roxas, Naminé, and Zion are fine. Could you honestly say they would be if not for you?”

I opened my mouth to respond, before hesitating, knowing what would have been. What had been, without me. And my silence was answer enough.

Sora caught me in a hug. “Don’t blame yourself. That was my fault too okay?” Kairi and Branwen took the opportunity to join in.

“Something happen?” Hercules asked awkwardly.

“We got caught up in a real nasty trap about a few months ago. Riku and his Majesty came to help out.” Goofy explained. “Riku helped a bunch of others while we were recovering too, ah-hyuck.”

“Sounds like a hero to me.” Hercules said, giving me a smile. I just flushed.

“I...I guess so.” I relented.

“See? I knew you would come around eventually!” Sora laughed, before growing serious. “We’ll be fine, don’t worry. You gotta remember to take care of yourself too.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” I said, unable to help a smile. Branwen playfully hit me on the arm, a smile of his own on his face.

“Don’t worry. We got this.” he assured me.

“Thanks. Take care of yourselves.” I said, and watched them go. That was...kind of a relief. I mean, yeah, I knew I didn’t have to do everything, I just…

They were right, I was pushing myself too hard. To be fair, the stakes were far higher than they could ever dream of, at least not until Kingdom Hearts Three, but…

Branwen was alive. Alive and with a name, a family of his own. And the others, they knew they’d be coming back. That they weren’t something that shouldn’t exist, because they. Were. People. And Zion, she hadn’t been forgotten this time, not really. We all knew that she was, and were actively working to help bring her back along with the others. Looking back on it now...I really had done a lot, hadn’t I? But I wasn’t done. Not even close. Right now, the most important thing was stopping the Organization. We could do that. We would do that.

But I very well couldn’t if I ran myself into the ground first, right?

I chuckled. “Trust Sora to be able to get my head on straight.” I turned to Phil. “Is there a place nearby where I can take a nap? I want to be fully rested when the others come back.”

“Sure there is!” Phil said, moving in front of me and waving me over to follow. “Just back here, wouldn’t be a proper coliseum if we didn’t have places for heroes to take a break, now wouldn’t we?”

“I guess not.” I said, smiling. Phil led me into a hallway with multiple doors, opening one to reveal a small room with a bed and bathroom. “Not much to look at, but they’re just for breaks, you know? Not to be loafing around in.” Phil explained.

“Yeah. Thanks for this.” I said gratefully, heading straight for the bed.

“No problem. I’ll come wake ya when your friends get back if you haven’t already, okay?” Phil said.

“Thanks! I appreciate it.” I told him. Phil just waved me off.

“Nah, it’s not a problem. Besides, when Herc gets back I have an excuse to drag him down here and nag him into resting. He might be a demigod but he still needs to sleep!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Alright. Goodnight Phil.”

“Get some rest kid.” Phil said, before closing the door behind him. I turned and flopped onto the bed. It was built like a cushioned box, but with the ‘top’ and one of the ‘long’ sides missing. It almost reminded me of a couch. There wasn’t a blanket, but that didn’t matter. I had and would sleep on the ground before, so this was super nice. It was soft and the room was warm. I pretty much just went out like a light from there.

~*~

“Hey! Wait up!”

“Too slow, Sora! See ya at the finish line!” I giggled, feet pounding against the sand. The two of us were panting hard, each making for the bridge connecting the Play Island to the one paopu fruit tree that grew here. The finish line, or so said Sora.

I crossed underneath the bridge first, throwing up my hands in celebration. “And score one for Riku!” I cheered, Sora bending over and breathing heavily, hands on his knees. The moment he caught his breath, he rounded on me, deep blue eyes flashing with determination.

“One more time! You just got lucky!” he insisted.

“Alright.” I agreed, nodding. Maybe I should fake a fall into the sand this time, I’d won both races and Sora was four, he needed a victory. For all that I looked five years old both of us knew I wasn’t. And besides, taking pride in repeatedly beating a four year old at something was just wrong.

“Huh? Who’s that?” Sora asked, pointing up at- wait was that Aqua?!?! Yes, yes it was, the Keyblade Master in question walking over along the bridge toward us. She gave us a smile before jumping down next to us, landing on one knee, Sora stumbling back with a startled shout of surprise. She didn’t get up, and I realized she was putting herself on our level. Trying to make us more comfortable.

“Heheheh, sorry. You just surprised me.” Sora said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Aqua couldn’t help but laugh, and I relaxed, a tension I hadn’t even realized I was carrying melting away at the sight. Aqua. She was okay. She wouldn’t be, I knew that, but for now…she was here, and smiling. That was enough.

“This boy looks so sincere - just like Terra.” Aqua murmured, looking at me. She turned her attention to Sora, then, a small smile on her face. “And this one - he’s the spitting image of Ven.”

“You know Terra?”

“I’m not Ven! I’m Sora!” One question and one protest, overlapping each other as Sora and I spoke at the same time.

“Sora, then. And you?” Aqua asked me.

“Riku.” I answered. Aqua nodded. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear it over the two of you talking over each other.” Aqua admitted, and we both looked sheepish then. “What was it you were asking?”

“If you knew Terra.” I said, and watched as a myriad of emotions flashed across Aqua’s face.

“Yes, I know Terra.” she said. “It must have been him who passed you the power.”

“Wait, you can tell?” I asked, startled.

“Yes. I’m a Keyblade Master, after all.” Aqua said, which made no sense because I knew Sora and Riku sure as heck hadn’t been able to do it when they hit that level. Unless it was something Eraqus had trained her to do? Yeah, that must be it, Sora and I would be entirely self-taught in the years to come.

Ten years. Some days I dreaded it.

“Sora, do you like Riku?” Aqua asked, the random non-sequitur taking me off guard.

“Of course I like Riku! He’s my very bestest friend!” Sora practically shouted in excitement, shooting a beaming grin at me. One I couldn’t help but return with a soft smile of my own.

“Good.” Aqua smiled. “So then, if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost - or say, he starts wandering down a dark path alone - you make sure to stay with him and keep him safe.” She was projecting, I knew, but the Birth By Sleep trio was under a lot of stress right now. I wasn’t surprised she saw her friends in Sora and I, not with our dispositions being what they were.

“But Riku never gets lost!” Sora protested. Aqua just kind of chuckled helplessly.

“You’ll know what I mean when you’re older.” she said, though considering how things went in canon coupled with how young Sora was I highly doubted he’d even remember this when we were older. I would, though, the familiar heartache rising up and gnawing away at me inside. I wasn’t really five, after all. I just looked like it.

“We watch each other’s backs. We’ll keep each other both safe.” I said, echoing the words I’d once told Terra. Aqua seemed content with this at least. She reached out, ruffling both our hair at the same time - something up until now I’d only experienced with Terra. Sora giggled at the feeling, while I just kind of smiled helplessly, unsure of how to react. 

“You’re good with kids.” I blurted out, before abruptly realizing how that sounded and wanting to slap myself. Aqua looked surprised, before laughing.

“Thank you.” she said, before rising out of her crouch. “It’s getting late, you kids should probably head home.”

“Awww, but I don’t wanna!” Sora whined. I patted my friend on the shoulder sympathetically. I got it. He was four, after all. I opened my mouth, and-

~*~

“Aha!”

“Gahhh!” My eyes flew open in shock, having been jolted awake mid-dream, light flaring out in response to the sudden smell of darkness around me. Hades yelped in surprise as he was immediately flash-blinded, letting go of my wrist, and I bounced painfully off the stone floor of the Underworld before materializing Midnight Blue to ward off the god of the dead.

“Wow, you really like being a pain, don’t’cha kid?” Hades asked, brushing invisible dust off his clothes before looking back at me. “Now, I’ll cut you a deal. I know you’re dead, you know you’re dead, so let’s not argue semantics here.”

“Excuse me?! What part of ‘I’m not dead’ can you not understand?” I snapped, scowling at him. “My heart is beating, I’m breathing, I’m perfectly healthy. Obviously I’m alive - you of all people should be able to tell the difference.”

“See, that’s the thing here. You are dead. Or were, given that you somehow managed to find a way to come back to life.” Hades said, before shrugging. “So, you know how it is. When people die they’re supposed to stay dead, capiche? Can’t keep order in the world if all the dead are breaking free and running loose, am I right?”

“Well, no but-”

“Glad you agree!” Hades grinned, reaching out to put his hand on my shoulder. I just swatted it off irritably. “So, here’s the kicker. I have a little problem you can help me with. Once you do, I’ll be willing to overlook your little stunt here and let you go. No strings attached, you’ll be free as a bird.”

I seethed. “If you’re sending me off to kill Hercules so help me-”

“Nonononono, nothing like that.” Hades said, waving me off. “Just a little lock that needs unlocking. Simple, right?”

“And just why would I unlock anything for you?” I demanded incredulously. Hades just gave me a look.

“Because otherwise, you’re staying down here like a good little dead brat.” he responded coldly.

“Hate to break it to you, but you can’t wield a keyblade if you’re dead.” I said, Midnight Blue at the ready. I felt the icy curse of the Underworld sapping at my strength, and shot Hades a vicious, spiteful grin for it. “Besides, you know how it is. Can’t keep order in the world if you imprison the living down in the Underworld, am I right?” I parroted, throwing his words right back at him. 

Hades just gritted his teeth in a snarl. “You are absolutely infuriating, you know that brat? Here I was all ready to let you go just like that, but you had to go and throw it in my face, didn’t you?” At this point he sighed dramatically. “So much for that. No more getting-out-of-jail-free cards, kiddo. In fact…” That malicious smile meant nothing good for me. “That’s wh-”

I wasn’t waiting. I shot a Thundara at him, and when he teleported to dodge it I simply raised my keyblade and fired off a ring of light, catching Hades from the new direction he’d come at me from since the ring simply spread outward from my body rather than being thrown in a single direction. Dark spells weren’t an option, not when I was drawing solely on my light for this, but that was fine. In this situation keeping up my shield against the dark was more important.

Actually, wait. Pete - Pete had been down in the Underworld, right? Down with Heartless. Except he didn’t have access to an Olympus Stone, so what had been protecting him from the curse?

If it was darkness, then-!

I launched my keyblade, letting go of it at the apex of my swing to send it flying at a shocked Hades, which bought me enough time to pull my light back, darkness flooding out to take its place. I landed on all fours, Midnight Blue reappearing in my mouth as the icy, crippling touch of the Underworld slid off me like water off a duck’s back. I grinned, lips pulling back to reveal sharp fangs.

“What?!” Hades shrieked. I couldn’t help but giggle, which in this form apparently translated into a choppy series of high-pitched barks, before charging my keyblade with darkness and going in on the attack. 

<Dark Blizzara!> Mentally thanking Phil for the group training, a ball of black ice appeared hovering above my head before the Dark Blizzara launched itself at Hades - or more specifically, his hands, dousing the flames he’d been holding as they melted the ice.

Cloaked in my darkness as I was (even if it didn’t look like that as a wolf it was still darkness enveloping me), I wasn’t doing as much damage to Hades as I had been before due to my inability to use anything light-aligned like this. But that was fine. Again, protection against the curse was by far the bigger priority here. With my first priority being, of course, getting the heck out of here.

<Slow!> I cast, lunging at Hades, anticipating his teleport and taking the opportunity to bolt for the exit while he was under the impression that I was about to turn and attack him again. I heard his scream of rage echo through the hallway as I raced through, tail tucked between my legs and ears flat against my skull. I was beyond grateful that as a wolf I was much faster than I could ever hope to be as a human - and that was before adding Slow to the equation.

That’s not to say that I didn’t get out of there unscathed. Because I didn’t. Hades aside, there were Heartless all over the Underworld. I had to deal with them and Hades at the same time, and it was only through judicious use of spellcasting, acrobatics, and sheer desperation that I was able to force my way through.

I wasn’t at all anticipating barreling around a corner only to run smack into a black coat, bowling us both over.

“Yipe!”

“Oof, what the-?!”

“Riku? What are you doing here?!” Sora asked, understandably bewildered at the fact that I was here and not at the Coliseum, and my tail thumped against the floor as I wiggled out from underneath Demyx.

“You know this-?”

<Sora. Glad to- forget that, Hades is right on my tail!> I cut myself (and unintentionally Demyx) off, scrambling over to my brother’s side.

“Hades is?!” Demyx yelped, looking very uncertain. “Maybe I should just-”

“Hold it. Right. There!” Hades bellowed, coming around the corner looking like Mt. Saint Helens about to blow. Demyx just ‘eeped’ and skittered back toward us.

“If you think we’re going to let you take my brother from us then you’re dead wrong.” Branwen snarled, the darkness around him flaring up briefly at his words. 

“You- you are the most infuriating loophole known to man, you got that brat?!” Hades howled, glaring at daggers at me. “I’m going to throw you down a hole so deep you won’t ever see the light of the Underworld for the rest of your pathetic afterlife, and you all with him!!”

“Eeeek! U-um, I-I’m not a part of this, soooo- yikes!” Demyx squeaked, just narrowly dodging the rather large fireball Hades had hurled at him. “Aw man, I am so not the right guy for this…”

<Dude if you’re sticking around drench him with water!> I hollered back at him, sticking close to Goofy due to my exhausted state.

“O-okay!” Demyx said, before music played and a tidal wave washed over Hades. He had only a moment to sputter in outrage, hands and flaming hair doused, before four voices shouted a certain elemental spell in unison.

“Thundara!”

“Dark Thundara!”

“Thundaga!”

I. Did not. Fancy being hit by that. Ever.

“Wow. You guys really did a number on him.” Demyx whistled, looking over at Hades’s unconscious and slightly smoking form. “Course, you wouldn’t have been able to without me that is!” he added, jabbing a thumb in the direction of his chest.

I chuckled, the sound coming out as a series of quick, rumbling growls. Oops. <Course not. Thanks for that, by the way. I’m guessing you’re done here?>

Demyx winced. “Weeeeell, not entirely. See, Roxas over there-”

“I’m not-”

“He’s not Roxas!”

Demyx blinked. “Um, yes he is?”

Sora shook his head. “Roxas is right here, in my heart.” he said, tapping right over where his heart would be, and much to my amazement a golden ripple spread briefly before fading out. “He’s safe until we can get him back again.”

“Um. What?” Demyx asked, looking like we’d just taken Arpeggio and broken it over his head. I almost smiled fondly, but a) that would’ve just looked threatening with my current facial anatomy, and b) would have been completely out of context and not in a good way. Tristan, I couldn’t look at Demyx and not think of him, but, this...this wasn’t just a character Tristan loved anymore. Demyx wasn’t a friend - he was someone who could and would try to kill us all when it came down to it. 

“Yeah, Roxas is fine.” Branwen nodded, before looking at Demyx curiously. “Were you friends?”

“Friends? Nobodies can’t have friends.” Demyx scoffed. “He was just one of us, you know?”

“If you’re attached enough to call someone one of you, then doesn’t that make you friends?” Branwen wondered. Demyx’s head shot up.

“What?! No! Nobodies can’t feel, remember! No hearts!” he protested. “Aw, never mind. Mission’s over anyway.”

<Wait!> I shouted, forgetting myself and reaching out a paw toward him, but it was too late. He was gone. Nuggets, the- oh whew, there it was.

“Is that- that’s gotta be the Olympus Stone!” Kairi said, going over and picking it up, before examining it curiously. “It looks more like a medal to me...”

“Hooray! Now let’s get out of here before Hades wakes up.” Donald suggested.

<Don’t have to tell me twice.> I bared my teeth in a wolfy grin, and we went and did just that - leaving Hades behind on the floor.

~*~

As we approached the Coliseum at a run, I could see streams of people evacuating the building, with roars and bursts of fire coming from within it.

<What the?!> I choked, starting to run faster.

“Hades...sent the hydra...to make Herc go back!” Sora explained as we ran. As I led the charge into the building, we could see Meg evacuating the last dregs of spectators while Hercules was struggling against a hydra.

“Herc!” Goofy called, getting his attention. Unfortunately, drawing Hercules’s attention away from the hydra he’d been locked grip to grip with just meant he got squished. 

I shouted - which actually came out as a very loud bark because I forgot telepathy for a second and automatically went for my vocal cords - and bit down hard on the hydra’s leg. Which was completely gross because ewww hydra blood but it got the thing to back off him so there.

“We’re here to help!” Sora announced, before shooting a Fira at the beast. The thing roared in fury, taking a step back in order to launch one of its heads down with blinding speed in order to snatch my brother in its jaws.

Which didn’t happen, since I took the opportunity to go right for the neck of the offending head and start whaling on it with Midnight Blue. The head did this weird jiggle-thing in mid-air as it both seized up in pain and tried to redirect itself, before turning and lunging straight for me. Who being no fool jumped out of the way. 

I heard a crunch, before a shriek of pain as the entire head and neck fell off the hydra like some sick peach ring. I choked on a laugh; the beast had actually bit its own neck off in its frenzied attempt to kill me. Whooops.

<Dark Fira!> I shouted, wasting no time in incinerating the neck stump, preventing it from simply regenerating its missing head.

“I-it just grew back, and with another head!” I heard Kairi shout, and looked over in time to see a pair of new heads and necks emerge from the quivering stump in front of her. One head snarled at Kairi with hate-filled eyes, only to abruptly have something else to deal with as Kairi raised her staff and rained down stars of light from the heavens in front of her. 

“You have...you have to burn the stump with fire, or it’ll just...grow two new heads!” Hercules said laboriously, before punting another head into the ground, stunning it.

“Oh really? Then eat Firaga!” Donald yelled, an impressive gout of flame bursting from his staff and near incinerating the head he’d aimed it at. Soot-covered and roaring in pain, the head redirected its attention to Donald in fury, only to fall to the ground as I took advantage of its distraction to sever it.

“Dark Fira!” Branwen shouted with obvious glee in his voice, roasting the stump in front of me. “Two down, three more to go!” he said happily.

I heard a tearing sound, and saw Hercules throw the severed head of the hydra over the arena walls. 

“Outta the way Herc! Firaga!” Donald yelled, incinerating the neck stump. I frowned; weren’t you supposed to cut the head and neck off? It’d probably use the thing as a whip now, right?

Yes. Thankfully Goofy managed to get in between it and me in time for the thing to just bounce off his shield rather than hit me. Which I greatly appreciated; I did not fancy being catapulted into the rubble caused by our battle, thanks.

<Thanks Goofy!> I said gratefully.

“No problem, Riku!” Goofy said, grinning at me before turning his attention to our most powerful mage. “Use a Graviga, Donald! Get it down here!” Goofy shouted at Donald, to which the duck dutifully obliged. I saw Goofy waste no time in going for the neck, and took the opportunity to join Kairi at the stump of the whip-neck.

“Fira! Woohoo!” I heard Sora shout, and I couldn’t help but smile at that.

<Let’s cut this off! Dark Blizzara!>

“Blizzara!” Kairi and I shouted as one, the combined sharp edges of the ice boulders severing the neck, which dropped to the ground with a meaty thud.

“Fira!” Kairi cast, taking care of that problem.

“I got it Hercules! Dark Fira!” I heard Branwen shout, dealing with the head and neck Hercules had just torn off the monster. That just left-

“Firaga!” Donald cast, incinerating the stump of the neck Goofy had been dealing with. There was no roar of weakened defiance, only silent death throes as the now-headless body simply quivered and then collapsed, no longer moving.

<Guys, can I have something to wash my mouth out with? I’m tasting hydra blood and it’s gross.> I complained, shifting forms. Sora just laughed, before handing me a potion.

“Here, use this.” he said. I took it gratefully, chugging it down and watching the glass shimmer into nothing as soon as it emptied. It had the dual purpose of healing the relatively minor injuries accumulated from the battle and washing out the hydra blood that had been stuck to the inside of my mouth for the entire battle. And lemme tell you, that crap was nasty.

“Anyone else need a potion?” Sora asked, looking around at the group.

“I do.”

“So do I.” Goofy and Branwen replied, and Sora dutifully handed them the healing vials.

“Wonderboy could probably use one as well.” Meg said, and took the hi-potion (not potion) Sora happily handed her before passing it to Hercules. The man in question just gave it a wan stare.

“I don’t-”

“Take the dang potion before I force it down your throat.” Meg told him sternly. Hercules just shot her a semi-incredulous look, before realizing she was serious. He gave in, taking the hi-potion from Meg before chugging it as well.

“Thanks.” he said, to which Sora just smiled.

“Not a problem!” he beamed.

“Can’t believe how much I needed that.” Hercules said as he sat back on the stairs, panting. “Can’t even take out a single hydra on my own anymore...pathetic.”

“You’re not pathetic!” Kairi protested. Hercules just gave her a flat look.

“You saw me - I couldn’t even help these people on my own! Normally I can send one of those hydras off in no time, and now look at me! I had to have help!” he said, slamming a fist on the ground in frustration.

“Dude, you can’t-” Branwen started, but Hercules cut him off.

“Can’t what? I’m a demigod! A hero! I’m supposed to protect people, and if I can’t, then…” the man just trailed off, before holding his head in his hands. “Then what good am I?”

“Would you just listen to me?!” Branwen snapped, getting Hercules to look back up at him in shock. “I don’t care if you're a god, a replica, a Nobody, or a regular Joe off the street! You. Can’t. Be. Everywhere! You keep charging on without stopping to take care of yourself like this and you’ll just keep plowing yourself right into the ground and six feet under!” he yelled, before taking a couple of breaths to collect himself. 

“Look. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that if you don’t take care of yourself first, then how on earth are you going to be able to help anyone else?”

“But-!” Hercules started to protest, only to stop as Branwen cut him off.

“Ah! Basic needs, Hercules. You right now need food and sleep. If us mere mortals can take care of our basic needs then what’s your excuse?”

Hercules was just gaping at my twin in the wake of his rant, completely blindsided. And he wasn’t the only one. Meg on her part just started laughing, putting a hand in front of her mouth in a vain attempt to cover it up.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough. I think Wonderboy’s got the point, right, Wonderboy?” she asked pointedly. Hercules just blinked.

“Uh- I mean-” Hercules fumbled, before sighing. “Yeah. I, yeah.”

“Good.” Phil said, before turning to us. “We’ll get this place back in order, don’t you worry. Though we won’t be hosting any games until Herc’s got some rest - you got that, Herc?” 

Hercules couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright. I’ve got it. You...you guys’ve been really worried about me, haven’t you?”

“You’re just noticing this now?” Meg asked, eyebrow raised. I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

“Oh yeah! The Olympus Stone!” Sora said, digging it out of his pocket, before holding it out to Hercules. As the demigod reached to take it, the stone lit up with a very familiar light, before floating up into the air.

“My turn my turn!!” Branwen shouted eagerly, sending us into gales of laughter as he materialized Midnight Blue, pointing it at the medal. Just like it had with Sora and I, power gathered at the end, before bursting apart. The pattern beneath his feet turned out to be a large circle, outlines glowing, with one part sectioned off to form a crescent moon. A crescent glowing with light, while the rest of the moon was dark. 

The keyhole appeared above the Olympus Stone, ready and waiting to be unlocked. Branwen eagerly complied, a beam of light shooting out from his keyblade and into the vortex within the boundaries of the keyhole.

It never ceased to amaze me, looking at these.

The keyhole disappeared, having been unlocked. A new path was open to us now - and what world would be connected by a shield against a curse? Something we’d have fun guessing on our way over I was sure.

Chapter Text

“Hey Riku! Your turn to drive, ah-hyuck!” Goofy said with a grin on his face. My eyes lit up in excitement.

“Sure thing!” I said, before turning to the others. “Let me know whose guess was closest!”

“Will do Riku!” Kairi giggled. With that, I took my place in the pilot's seat, and put my hands on the steering wheel in the 8 and 4 positions like I’d been taught in driver’s ed.

“What? What are you doing, your hands go here!” Donald said, moving them to 10 and 2, which I instinctively flinched back from.

“Gawrsh, what is it Riku?” Goofy asked.

“You guys have never driven a car before, have you?” I asked gingerly. The two glanced at each other before looking back at me in obvious confusion.

“Yeah, we have. Why?” Donald asked.

“Be...cause of a little safety feature called airbags?” I asked, slightly incredulous. Were they saying that they didn’t have airbags?  

The pair just looked confused. “Airbags? What exactly are those?” Goofy asked curiously.

“They’re cushions for if you get into a car crash. Except in order to get out fast enough they basically blow up from hot air being slammed into them to catch you. The one in the steering wheel comes out here.” I said, showing them. “So yeah, if my hands were up there they’d get wrecked.” I said. Both my friends winced.

“Yeah. But there are no airbags here!” Donald pointed out. I just gave him a look.

“This is how I’ve been taught to drive. I don’t want to get mixed up.” I said, before wincing. “And the way you casually say that you have no airbags, proudly at that, is rather...disturbing.” I couldn’t help but add.

“Well, we don’t need them. We’ve got nicer safety features than a hot pillow blowing up in your face.” Goofy pointed out, which made me laugh.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” I said, before taking up the steering wheel again. “So, what were you saying?”

“Oh! Well, you pull back on the wheel to make the ship go up, and push forward to do the opposite. Then this thing here’s your radar. It tells you where enemy Heartless are. But you gotta remember that we’re flying here! You’ll see trails on the red dots that mean Heartless ships that’ll tell you how much higher or lower they are from you.”

“Oh? That’s neat.” I said happily.

“Yep! That way you won’t miss a single Heartless who wants to attack us.” Goofy nodded. “You can see obstacles from here, so don’t run into them while you’re dodging.”

“Right.” I nodded, before turning to face the windshield. “How do I start and stop? That’s kinda important.”

“No kidding.” Donald snickered, before pointing to two buttons on the dashboard. “Green is go, red is stop.”

“Gotcha.” I said, before looking over my shoulder. “Everybody strapped in?”

“Yep!” came the collective call from behind me. I turned my head back to see Donald and Goofy buckling in.

“Okay, ready!” Donald said, giving me a thumbs-up.

“Good luck.” Goofy added.

“Thanks.” I said, before pressing the button to start up the ship. We floated into the air - and hooooly crap I’m driving a spaceship I’m driving a spaceship!! - before I carefully angled the steering wheel back, unable to help a beaming grin from spreading across my face as the sky turned into space even if I’d tried. I was freaking driving a spaceship!!

Right, calm down, no distractions. Like driving a car - only in 360 degree space like a submarine. Ohhhkay. Here we go.

The nice thing about the connections is that they’re like interstellar roads - I can just happily follow them along while Donald and Goofy manned the guns to shoot down Heartless ships. It felt so much like watching a game it wasn’t even funny, even though this was actually a life or death situation should those Heartless do enough damage. But they weren’t, and my friends blew them out of the sky easily enough. Or, space, really. Erm. Whatever.

By the end of it, I was bringing us down into the sky of a world with a very familiar castle. Hello again, Disney planet. Awesome.

My landing was a little rough given the fact that I was trying to land in a spacedock rather than on open ground, but I did it without causing any damage so that was a plus.

“Nice job, Riku!” Goofy congratulated me.

“Thanks.” I said, unbuckling myself and disembarking with the rest of the group. “So, looks like we’re back here again. Wonder why we had to open a connection then?” I asked, frowning.

“Well, maybe there’s a gate here too, like there was on Hollow Bastion.” Sora pointed out. “If we’d taken this one instead of the one linked to my membership card, I’m willing to bet we’d’ve eventually come out there.”

“That makes sense.” Kairi agreed, before being interrupted by Donald loudly and rapidly shaking his head. 

“Forget about that! What are we waiting around here for? Let’s go say hi to everyone.”

High-pitched, panting voices stopped us as Chip and Dale burst into the docks on all fours. They slid down the stair rail, stopping at the bottom as we came to meet them.

“You’re back!” Chip said excitedly.

“Move it! Let’s go!” Dale shouted, literally bouncing up and down. He was actually jumping quite high, it was kind of impressive given that he was literally a chipmunk. Normally sized too. 

“Queen Minnie needs to see you!” Chip added, jumping just as high as his friend.

“The castle’s in danger! Hurry! To the library!” Dale howled.

“What?!” we all shouted, before bolting after them. Racing up the stairs, we emerged from the doors of a hedge (which was still pretty freaking cool) and onto the castle grounds. From there, we entered the castle, following Donald and Goofy’s lead through their home. At least until we barged in on some Heartless in the hallways.

“What are Heartless doing here?!” Donald shrieked, hitting one Heartless so hard with his staff in fury that the thing literally went flying out an open window. That wasn’t on the first floor. Wheeeeeewww, poof. Hehe.

“I don’t know Donald! We’d better hurry!” Goofy said worriedly, before picking up the pace. Tearing through Heartless as we went, we continued our ascent until the doors they pushed open were those of a large library. Bookshelves lined the walls and even curved around the pillars, now that was some incredible engineering right there, magical or not. 

Magic was never as easy as simply waving a hand and saying some words to do whatever you wanted. There were rules, just like with any other law of the universe. Just because it wasn’t a law that had existed in my old universe didn’t change the fact that it was a law here.  

As soon as we entered the library, my eyes zeroed in on Queen Minnie, looking through a book in her hands. A mouse who smelled almost exactly the same as Sora, just a little stronger on the herbal side. 

Just a little lighter. 

Minnie looked up and turned around to see what had made the noise, and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw us. 

“Donald! Goofy! And all your friends too!” she greeted us happily, slotting the book back in the shelf she’d taken it out from.

“Your majesty!” Donald and Goofy said, saluting. This was one royal I was more than happy to salute. I mean come on, it was Queen Minnie. She was quite literally running the place on her own while Mickey was gone for two years and then some in canon - and someone who can do that isn’t stupid nor helpless.

“I’m so glad you’re back! But...where’s Naminé?” she asked worriedly. Oh. Right. 

“Naminé was like Roxas and Zion. She had to go back to Kairi.” Goofy explained sadly.

“Oh. I see.” Minnie said sadly, before turning to Kairi. “So, you’re Kairi then, right?”

“Yup. It’s nice to meet you!” Kairi smiled, extending a hand for the queen to shake, before Donald slapped it away. “Donald!”

“That’s the queen!” he hissed.

“Oh it’s alright Donald.” Minnie assured him, before turning back to us. “When you six do bring Roxas, Zion, and Naminé back, I’d love to be introduced to them, and to see Naminé again.”

“We can do that. I’m sure they’d love to come.” Sora said, putting his hands back behind his head.

Minnie smiled. “That’s good to hear. It fills my heart with happiness to know that they’ll be alright, and that they have such good friends.” she said, before her expression turned serious. “I can’t say as much for the rest of us at the moment, I’m afraid.”

“Wait, what?!” Donald yelped. “Why?!”

“Well, we’ve got a very big problem on our hands. Those monsters, the Heartless you and Mickey told me about, they’re- they’re all over our home.” Minnie took a deep breath, composing herself, before continuing. “There’s something horribly wrong, and you’ll need to come see in order to understand just how serious it is. Could you please escort me to the audience chamber?”

“Gladly.”

“Of course.” Sora and I said. Minnie smiled gratefully, before gasping in horror. 

“I was so busy looking into the problem that I forgot to warn everyone else in the castle about the danger!” Yikes. “We must be sure they’re hidden somewhere safe!”

“We’ll make sure to tell them!” Kairi said.

“The whole castle?!” Donald yelped.

“Well, there’s six of us. If we split up we should be fine.” I suggested.

“Nuh-uh. You guys would just get lost.” Donald pointed out. Which was fair enough; we’d only ever been here once before, and we’d just followed our friends’ lead then. Kairi hadn’t even been here at all.

“Why don’t we split up into pairs?” Branwen asked. “I can go with Goofy, and Kairi with Donald, since you two actually know where you’re going. That leaves Sora and Riku to protect the queen.”

“Sounds good to me.” Goofy nodded, before turning to Minnie. “Alrighty then, see ya later!” he said, waving, before the four of them left the library; Goofy and Branwen turning left while Donald and Kairi went right.

“Looks like it's just you and me Riku.” Sora grinned. I nodded.

“Yeah.” I said, before turning to Minnie. “Can you show us the way?”

“Of course. Let’s be on our way.” Minnie said, before guiding us out of the library and down the hall. With Minnie taking point and Sora and I keeping any and all Heartless off her, we made better time than I thought we would down to the room in question. It helped that it was actually on the second floor, and not the first like I’d been expecting.

Once we got there, it was immediately apparent which doors were the ones to the chamber. A pink barrier shimmered in front of them, with a white mickey emblem in the center gently sending out ripples of the same color with every pulse.

Three guesses as to who made it and the first two don’t count.

“Just a moment.” Minnie assured us, before turning to the seal on the doors. “As soon as the trouble started, I made sure to seal this room.”

“How co-?” my question was overridden by the sound of the barrier dispelling under Minnie’s raised hand, the mickey emblem expanding as though wiping the magic away. 

“Sorry, what was that?” Minnie asked as a...much smaller door opened in the left one. I’m not even surprised.

“Why’d you seal off this room in particular?” I wondered, my brother and I following her inside.

“Because it hides the entrance to the Hall of the Cornerstone, one of the most important parts of the castle.” Minnie explained. Before I could ask her more, strangely smooth gurgling noises started up, making me glance around the empty room, before looking up.

“Sora, look out!”

“Whoa!” Sora yelped, Kingdom Key in hand as we took up defensive positions in front of the queen.

“Oh, not here too!” she gasped.

“We’ve got this.” Sora assured her, before we went in on the attack. For whatever reason Minnie started edging toward the podium at the back, so naturally we moved with her, keeping the seemingly endless banner-like Heartless at bay.

“Do they never end?” I asked in frustration as I fired off multiple rings of darkness in a row, eviscerating the ones around me. Sora just growled, raising the Kingdom Key and firing off a blast of light to knock a particularly large Heartless from the sky to go poof onto the ground.

“They’ve gotta. They- uh?!” Sora cut himself off as a rumbling sound started up from the very platform we were on, and then it started moving. Bright light, sharp and acrid in my nostrils, so strong it made my eyes water, shone out from the ever widening hole. As soon as the platform had reached its limit it exploded outward. When I opened my eyes and tentatively dropped my hands from where I’d clapped them over my nose and mouth during the blast, all the Heartless in the room were gone.

“Holy crap. What was that Minnie?” I asked, turning to face the mouse in question where she was standing next to the throne - and why was there just one? Did the pair just both sit in it at the same time, as silly as that sounded? I mean it was Disney, so it wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, but it still didn’t make sense. Maybe they took turns?

“No kidding.” Sora breathed.

“That light came from the Hall of the Cornerstone, this room down here.” Minnie said, walking over to the newly revealed staircase. Which would make said hall on the first floor, huh. Maybe that’s why the audience chamber was on the second? Seemed like a rather roundabout way of doing things...but then again, it was Disney. “Our castle has always been safe from worlds that are evil, thanks to the Cornerstone of Light which we keep down there.”

“So that’s why Donald and Goofy were so surprised to see Heartless here.” Sora said, before gasping as he put two and two together. “So something must be wrong with the Cornerstone!”

“That must be the connection between this world and the Olympus Stone.” I realized.

“Yes, though I don’t know anything about this ‘Olypmus Stone’.” Minnie answered, before the echoing sound of a door opening made us turn around in time to see the rest of our friends and family entering the chamber.

“Hey guys! We got everyone!” Branwen said, waving as he ran up to us.

“Great to hear.” I grinned.

“Yep! Now let’s figure out what’s been messin’ with our Cornerstone of Light.” Goofy said.

“Yeah, I’ll punch whoever did it right in the face!” Donald grumbled as we started making our way down the stairs. There was only a single room at the end, and as soon as we entered I could only groan.

“Maleficent.” Thick and thorny vines towered all across the room, crawling and intertwining to form a second wall in this dark chamber. The only source of light came from the Cornerstone, radiating a pleasant but almost overpoweringly strong herbal smell, though whether this was what the place was normally like or not, I couldn’t remember. Minus the thorns of course; I already knew those weren’t supposed to be here.

“Maleficent? What makes you say that?” Kairi asked.

“Magical thorns are her M.O.” I explained, only to get confused looks from the others.

“What do you mean? I’ve never seen her do that.” Sora said. “And she’s dead, isn’t she? We defeated her in Hollow Bastion.” Nuggets, that’s right.

“Yeah, but I saw them in Hollow Bastion before we met up.” I lied. 

“Oh. Yeah, makes sense.” Sora nodded.

“Oh, did you really?” Ohhh, nuggeeeets. Green flames, reeking of damp, dank earth, erupted in front of the Cornerstone, extinguishing to reveal none other than Maleficent herself. Ahh craaap. Knew this was gonna happen eventually, getting caught out in a lie. I’d just hoped I... 

But wait, there was something wrong. She was see-through. Translucent. Was this a projection of some kind? I couldn’t smell her, so it had to be, right?

“Maleficent?!”

“How?!”

“We defeated you! How can you be here?!”

Oh yeah, they didn’t know she’d come back yet. Whoops. Wait Branwen-!

With a yelp, my twin tumbled through Maleficent’s projection, ending up flat against the pedestal of the Cornerstone.

“What was that?” he asked, picking up his keyblade.

“A projection of some kind. The real Maleficent’s not even here.” I explained.

“About time you noticed.” the fairy sniffed. “I promise, you’ll be able to partake of my vengeance in all due time. But you must be patient.”

“Um, what?” I asked, rather blindsided by this. “We’re not gonna work for you.”

“Yeah, no way!” Donald snarled in agreement.

“Ugh, that went right over your heads, didn’t it?” Maleficent scoffed derisively.

“What are you even doing here, Maleficent?” Minnie demanded.

“Ah, Queen Minnie. Radiant, as always.” Maleficent said, falling into a mocking bow. “I’m here on a property venture. I want this castle for my own.”

“You what?!” Kairi snarled, incensed. “There’s no way we’ll just let that happen!”

“Oh I thought not. But I’m afraid there’s simply nothing you can do about it.” Maleficent said nonchalantly. “This castle’s light will be smothered by my own personal touch of darkness.” she laughed, before turning and hitting the side of the Cornerstone with her hand, sparks dancing at the contact between two opposite and opposing forces.

“You’d better stop right now if you know what’s good for you!” Queen Minnie shouted, drawing herself up in full regal glory. Gone was the friend - here was the queen.

“Ooh, how frightening.” Maleficent mocked, unfazed.

“You’ll be frightened when it’s my keyblade in your face.” Branwen growled, intentionally walking right through her to rejoin us. Maleficent looked rather offended at his actions.

“How lacking in manners this one is. I swear every time I turn around there’s more and more of you keybearers.” Maleficent said, which I mean, she wasn’t entirely wrong. From her perspective, it had gone from just Aqua, Terra, and Ven to all three of them plus Sora and I, and now Branwen too. 

Just wait until Kairi and Axel get theirs, and Roxas and Zion rejoin us hahaha. Actually, on that note, could Naminé wield a keyblade? I mean, Roxas and Zion inherited theirs from Sora, and Branwen from me, so...it wasn’t actually out of the realm of possibility. Cool. And since we’d be getting her back much earlier than in canon we’d have plenty of time to find out.

“Hmm, how about this? I’ll stop...just as soon as the castle belongs to me!” Maleficent said smugly, laughing as her projection dissolved into her signature green and black flames, the earthy smell vanishing with it.

“What a hag.” Sora grumbled, to which I couldn’t help but snort.

“No kidding. So what now?” I asked, turning to face Minnie. 

“I don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened before.” the queen said, looking downcast. “When we first noticed things were wrong with the Cornerstone I searched every record in the library, but I couldn’t find anything.”

“Ohhh!” Goofy suddenly shouted, startling us. “We should go ask somebody who knows lotsa stuff that ain’t in any book!” he suggested.

“Suuure. Know anybody?” Branwen snarked.

“We do! Merlin the Wizard!” Donald shouted triumphantly.

“Great idea!” Sora grinned.

“Wait, who’s Merlin?” Kairi asked.

“He’s a great guy, and a powerful wizard, a lot like Yen Sid.” Sora began. Yeah, except Yen Sid is also a Keyblade Master, whereas Merlin is not. Which is why it pisses me off that he’d sent Sora, and then later Kairi and Axel, to learn how to better wield the keyblade from Merlin instead of doing it himself like he was, you know, actually qualified to do. Especially since he’d initially started personally training Axel with the keyblade in Dream Drop Distance! “Merlin helped us out a lot last year while we were fighting the Heartless and looking for you two.” Sora finished, unaware of my sudden spike in irritation.

“Yes, that’s a splendid idea.” Minnie said happily. “If anyone might know something about this mess, it would be him.”

“Hmm...but just where would Merlin be?” Goofy wondered. I was about to speak up, but then frowned as I realized something. Hadn’t Merlin been supposed to show up in Hollow Bastion? He was the one who reminded Aerith about the cards, if I remembered correctly. So then why hadn’t he?

Must be one of those subtle changes, like with Aqua and the Twilight Town gang. Where they made decisions differently than canon on their own rather than because of anything I did.

“I don’t know…” Sora said, frowning. “Where should we start looking?”

“Maybe Hollow Bastion?” I offered. “If he isn’t there, we can ask the Restoration Committee if they’ve seen him.”

“Great idea Riku!” Donald cheered, which just made me embarrassed. “We’ll start looking there!”

~*~

We’d come to the consensus on the way over that it was best to just start with asking the committee rather than go poking around everybody’s houses looking for the man. And no, that wasn’t me - it was actually Donald who brought that up.

Once we’d landed, it took less than five minutes for us to make our way over to the house the committee seemed to be operating out of.

“Hey, Cid!” Sora greeted him as we stepped inside. The man in question looked up from where he was working on something at the computer, a grin spreading across his face.

“Hi squirt. I see you’re all back. Watcha doin’ here?” he asked.

“We’re actually looking for Merlin right now, and were wondering if you’ve seen him.” Sora explained. Cid snorted.

“Seen ‘im? He lives here.” Cid said, before turning to the door that led deeper into the house. “Merlin! Get your wrinkly butt up here, you’ve got visitors!” Cid bellowed, not even bothering to get up.

Before we could even say anything, a poof of white smoke and rainbow, bubbly sparkles heralded the appearance of a certain blue-garbed wizard.

“Now Cid, did you really have to yell?” he admonished. “This is my house after all.” Cid looked completely unruffled.

“Well it got ya here, didn’ it?” he asked, before turning back to his work. Merlin just sighed, shaking his head, before turning to face our group. 

“Now, what is it that you all needed me for? And hm, looks like your group has grown a bit larger than before.” he commented.

“Yeah it- nevermind that! Disney Castle’s in danger! Maleficent’s back, and she’s done something to the Cornerstone of Light!” Donald said frantically.

“She what?” Merlin asked, stunned.

“Yeah. And because of that there’s Heartless in the castle now.” Sora added.

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah! Maleficent’s trying to take over the castle! There’s Heartless in every part of our home-!” Donald was saying as Merlin raised his hand, and then white smoke suddenly enveloped us. I froze, startled, before the mists cleared, and we were back in the Hall of the Cornerstone. “-and the queen’s in danger!” Donald finished, before blinking in confusion at the sudden change in surroundings. “Wha?”

“Wait, the gummi ship! That’s still back on Hollow Bastion!” I shouted, a bolt of panic racing through my body.

“Oh don’t worry my boy, I’ll make sure to bring your ship back over here. Ah, later, once we’ve figured this out. I thought it best to come see for myself, see.” the old man explained, which immediately made me feel better. The thought of being stranded again was...bringing up old memories and half-forgotten fears. Things I’d rather not think about.

Merlin approached the Cornerstone, beginning to examine it. “Mm-hmm...interesting...” he mused, starting to stroke his beard. I had to blink away double images of Dumbledore at that.

“What’s happening, Merlin?” Minnie asked worriedly.

“This is not good. I-i-in fact, I-I’m afraid it’s quite serious.” the wizard stammered out, clearly perturbed by his findings.

“What do you mean?” Branwen asked, concerned.

“Ahem. Well, hold on.” Merlin said, before raising his hands and conjuring a set of double doors of silver. I frowned, looking at it quizzically. It was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t remember ever seeing it before. I should know what it is, I just...don’t. Must’ve forgotten.

Well that’s just frustrating.

“What’s that?” Sora asked, echoing my confusion, albeit for different reasons.

“My boy, that is a gateway to a very special world. Someone in that world is responsible for what is going on in this castle. Of that, I’m certain.” Merlin explained.

“Thanks, Merlin.” Kairi said gratefully. “We couldn’t do this without you!” Merlin just looked embarrassed.

“Oh, no need to thank me, young lady. I’m just glad I could help.” he said.

“Sweet. Now what are we waiting for? Let’s go get him!” Branwen cheered. 

“Or her.” I couldn’t help but add with a grin. Branwen just threw his hands up into the air.

“Him, her, whatever!” he said.

“I believe the pronoun you are looking for is ‘them’.” Merlin added, seeming highly amused by this.

“Whatever!” Branwen repeated.

“Now, ahem, before you go.” Merlin coughed, steering us back on track. “Somewhere in that world, there should be a door identical to that one. I believe our enemies are utilizing that door. As long as it remains open, the castle will be in grave danger.”

“So as soon as we find it, we lock it.” Sora said.

Merlin nodded. “Precisely. Now, one last thing: you’re heading into a very special world. While you’re there, the nature of that world may tempt you to do something dark.”

“You mean something evil?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yes, the two are the same thing.”

“Not really.” Sora deadpanned, crossing his arms.

“Err...what?” Merlin asked, rather confused.

“As much as I hate saying this, we’d better save this for later. Lock that door first, finish this after.” Branwen spoke up, looking rather disgruntled.

“Yeah. Let’s get going.” Kairi agreed, walking over to the doors. She took hold of both handles, and with a few grunts of effort, pulled open the doors, which ground heavily against the floor. Through the single person wide gap, we could see nothing but white light, white that Kairi walked straight into. With barely a glance, the rest of us filed through after her.

~*~

After a few steps, the floor suddenly heaved under me, sending me flying forward out the other side of the whiteness with a yelp. I crashed right into Goofy’s back, and barely had a moment to wheeze out an apology before Branwen crashed right into me.

“Ugh, get off.” I wheezed. 

“Sorry.” Branwen apologized, and we quickly untangled ourselves. 

“Why is this all black and white?” Kairi asked, looking around.

“I don’t know but it’s kinda weirding me out.” I said honestly - I really didn’t know why Timeless River was in black and white. “Last time I was in a world like this it was a faulty memory world.” Which was interesting because Timeless River could sort of technically be called a memory world, given that it was the world of Disney Castle in the past. Still, I thought Sora, Donald, and Goofy had come in through a window, not a door. Human memory at its finest I suppose.

“Yeah, but Naminé could only do that in Castle Oblivion, right?” Sora asked, frowning. “And she’s not here right now.”

“Uh, guys? Why am I in this thing again?!” Branwen complained, looking at his- oh man. I couldn’t help but start laughing.

“Rikuuuu!” Branwen protested, clad once more in his dark suit, skirt thing and all. Which he was holding out from himself with both hands in clear disgust. “It’s not funny! I hate this thing!”

“Sorry buddy.” I apologized, my laughter suddenly so much easier to contain as a bitter taste flooded through my mouth. At how distressed he was, and what the dark suit meant in his mind. “Really.” Actually- “Kairi and I bought cold weather gear back in the Land of Dragons, I know it might be a little hot but-”

“Yes please.” Branwen said gratefully, and I started digging around in my- sweatpants pocket? What? I quickly pulled out and handed over the coat, boots, gloves, and pants one at a time before examining myself in more detail.

“You know, this is my outfit from last year.” Kairi mused, looking herself over while Branwen retreated behind the door we came in through to change. Not her pajama dress, but the tank top and skirt she’d been wearing around the islands.

“I’m in that outfit too.” Sora added, also back in the clothes he’d worn before our ill-fated sleepover.

“Well I’m certainly not.” Donald grumbled.

“Me either.” Goofy agreed. I on the other hand was staring dumbly at the hoodie I was wearing. I reached up, hand trembling, and pulled a very familiar fisherman’s beanie off my head. A beanie I knew was red, just as my hoodie was blue, despite the black and white world we found ourselves in.

These- these were my clothes I was wearing. From when I’d been Morgan.

“I CAN’T GET THIS OFF!!” Branwen abruptly shrieked from behind the door, and I quickly shoved my favorite hat back on my head and scooted around the door to see what was wrong. Branwen was frantically pulling at his boot, but unlike back in Twilight Town when we’d first gotten him out of it it refused to detach. 

“Is this…because it’s a world disguise?” I asked uneasily. Branwen looked to be near tears at this point. 

“I don’t care, I just want it off!” He wailed. I hesitated, not sure how to help. 

“How about…you just put what you can over it?” I suggested. Branwen paused. “I doubt you’ll be able to get the boots or gloves on but the coat at the very least should help a lot, right?”

“Okay.” Branwen sniffled. I left him to it, returning to where everyone else was giving worried looks at Branwen’s direction. After a few minutes, Branwen came out from behind the door, wearing only my fluffy coat. 

“Couldn’ get th’pants on.” Branwen muttered, not looking me in the eye as he handed the rest of the clothing over to me. I stored it away, privately hating that I couldn’t do more to help him. 

“It’s okay. We’ll be out of here before you know it.” Sora said, draping an arm over Branwen’s shoulders. “At least we don’t have to worry about finding the Cornerstone, since it’s right here.” he added, giving said magical artefact an interested look.

“Yep, that’s definitely nice.” Goofy agreed. I took a moment to breathe in, the almost overpowering herbal scent flowing over my tongue. 

This is what pure light smelled like. What Kairi and Naminé smelled like. 

“You know, this is kinda like...like…” Donald trailed off, frowning. “I feel like I should know this place. Like I’ve been here before.”

“Deja vu?” I asked, and Donald nodded. Well, this was their past, however many years ago it was. And it had to be a lot, given that they couldn’t even recognize their world without the castle anymore, which honestly begged the question of just how old they were. Adults, I knew that much, but beyond that? No idea. They could be a hundred and two and just hitting middle age for all I knew, especially since Huey, Duey, and Louie were little kids and had stayed that way throughout the years the Kingdom Hearts series had taken place in. The fact that Timeless River was in black and white probably wasn’t helping either.

“Well, Merlin did say this was a special world. You think-”

I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on grass, which had us turning in time to see none other than the Pete of the past running across this small field toward a path with a sign overhead helpfully labeled ‘Pier’. He skidded to a stop though as he noticed us staring, turning to give us his full attention.

“Hey you! Seen any bad guys around here?” he asked. Everyone else promptly pointed at him in unison, something that clearly offended him - actually wait, Kairi wasn’t pointing.

“Guys, do you really think the Pete we know would just come up and ask us that?” she pointed out.

“Pete you what?” Past Pete asked, before shaking his head. “Well, I’m the only Pete what matters around here! And I don’t have time to be wasting on you, so get out of my way!” he said, before charging off down toward the pier.

“...That’s a good point. And there’s no way he would just brush us off like that. I mean, there’s not even any Heartless around.” Branwen said, before frowning. “He sure looked like Pete though...well, without the wobbly double-chin.”

I couldn’t help but bark out a surprised laugh at that. Branwen just gave me a sheepish smile.

“What? It’s true!” he defended himself. “But anyway, Donald, Goofy, does Pete have any siblings or cousins or something?”

“Noooo? Not that I know of.” Donald frowned.

“Well, he said his name was Pete too, and I don’t think two brothers would both be given the same name.” Sora pointed out. “So what’s going on here?”

“Beats me.” Goofy shrugged. “Think this is a memory world too? One Naminé didn’t make?”

“It can’t be though. Only the worlds Riku went through were black and white, and they were broken remember? Everything there was ghostly, mindless, and silent.” Kairi said, frowning. “Not like here.”

“Yeah. And in the memory worlds that were made correctly, the people in them still looked and smelled the same as the real thing. This Pete doesn’t. He’s less dark than the Pete we know. So it’s not like he’s in disguise either.” I said, before shrugging. “Guess we’ll just have to figure it out. That Pete was asking if we’d seen any bad guys, right? Maybe he’s seen the guy we’re after. Can’t hurt to ask, anyway.” I suggested.

“Sounds like a plan.” Sora agreed, and with that, we started walking down the path to the pier. It didn’t take long, there weren’t even any Heartless to attack us here. Well here anyway, I knew there were definitely Heartless running amok in this world.

Jeez, we were in the past. And wasn’t that just surreal. Heck, this whole world was surreal. The fact that it was monochrome wasn’t helping, call me crazy but I swear it’s harder to tell things apart when all the world’s black and white. At least things in Timeless River weren’t dream-hazy like the broken memory worlds in Castle Oblivion. That had been a pain in the neck. 

“Eh? You again?” Past Pete asked, looking up from where he was at the docks. “What do you want?”

“We wanted to know if you’d seen a bad guy around here.” Goofy explained.

“‘Course I have, that punk stole my boat!” Past Pete growled, shaking a fist. A loud but surprisingly shrill whistle cut through the air, and Pete immediately stopped what he was doing and moved off the docks, looking in the direction the sound had come from.

“Is that a train?” Branwen wondered, before Past Pete rounded on him.

“Train? Train?! That there is from my steamboat, not some wimpy train!” Past Pete thundered, before turning and scowling in the direction the whistle had come from. “And I gotta get it back from that runt what stole it!”

“We can help. It might be the same guy we’re after.” Sora offered.

“Well, if you pip-squeaks wanna help, I sure won’t say no. I’ll look down this here river, you lot poke around elsewhere. See what you can turn up.” Past Pete said, before trudging off downstream to do just that.

“Well, where else would a boat be though?” Branwen wondered. Sora hummed, clearly thinking.

“Well, he might’ve meant for us to check upriver. But we don’t know if there was only one guy responsible. We should check the rest of the area first, see what we can find.” Sora suggested.

“Works for me. Back up the hill?” I asked.

“Back up the hill.” Sora agreed. Heading back up, we saw something new had decided to pop up while we were gone: a literal floating board - no, a window - covered with a curtain.

“What the heck?” Branwen asked, bewildered.

“I’m just as confused as you are.” Kairi added, frowning at the curtained window.

“Well c’mon! Let’s check it out.” Donald said, leading the way to it. He grabbed hold of the cord at the end and gave it a good yank, the curtains flying to the sides of the window as he did so. Only, it wasn’t a window. It was a mirror. And, what we saw…

I ignored the surprised exclamations from the others, eyes zeroing in on my face. And it was my face. Real, and not a picture in stained glass. From when my name had been Morgan, not Riku.

“Riku? You okay?” Sora asked, startling me from my reverie. I just glanced over at him, before looking back at my reflection. At my face. Tears stung my eyes as I just nodded thickly in response.

I don’t know why I was perfectly healthy in the mirror, when I’d been pretty sickly on the chemotherapy before surgery. But I was grateful for it. To see myself as I had been, before the cancer started eating away at me in combination with the drugs fighting for my life.

“Wait, if this is showin’ our past selves, then why does Riku’s reflection have dark hair?” Goofy asked.

Kairi was quick to intervene. “Sora dared him to dye it brown once as a joke when we were younger. Our parents flipped - it took weeks for the color to come out.”

“That would do it.” Branwen nodded sagely, before frowning. “I don’t remember that. Or what Riku's wearing. Ugh.” he grumbled, more than used to finding seemingly random holes in his memory by now. He turned his attention back to the mirror - looking at everyone else’s reflections instead of his, I realized. He hadn’t changed at all in the few months he’d been alive, and this was showing us as we’d been a year ago, reflected against what we’d grown into now. Well except for mine anyway but I don’t know or care what was up with that. I flashed Kairi a grateful but teary smile, one she returned with a smile of her own. 

I stared into this mirror, burning the memory of my reflection into my mind. After sixteen years, my old face had gotten hazy in my memory. Not just mine, but those of all the people I knew. Even if it was just in black and white - which was actually a good thing, trying to explain having both the wrong hair and eye color would’ve been a nightmare - seeing it again, the real, physical thing, was a blessing I was sure would never come again.

And with that, the mirror faded into nothing. But that wasn’t all that happened: bell-like ringing noises filled the clearing as four more large frames appeared out of nowhere around us. Only these weren't mirrors, but windows closed with glass panes. Windows that connected to other parts of this world.

Right, that’s why I’d thought they’d gotten in here from a window!

“Anyone know what’s up with those?” Branwen asked, eying the new windows apprehensively.

“Not a clue.” Kairi shrugged. “Maybe we’re supposed to take a peek?”

“Makes sense. I mean, they are windows after all.” Donald agreed. We cautiously approached one, but the image within was strangely hazy, almost like a rippling portal, showing the inside of a room.

“Uhh, what on earth are we even supposed to be seeing?” Branwen asked, frowning as he opened the window, raising a finger to poke at the rippling surface. “I mean look at this! It’s like it’s not eve-ahhh!” 

“Branwen!” I shouted, snapping my arm forward and catching him by the ankle as soon as he started getting sucked into the window at his touch. All that served to do was yank me in along with him, and we both tumbled out of the strange window into a heap on the carpeted floor beneath. Was this the room we'd seen?

“Ow…” I groaned, before quickly picking myself up. “Branwen, you okay?”

“Just peachy.” he wheezed, before extending a hand. I pulled him up from the ground, just in time to get bowled over by what felt like everybody else.

“Ow!”

“Whose knee is that?!”

“That’s my elbow, not my knee, Donald!”

“I don’t care what it is, just get it off!”

“I’d love to, as soon as Goofy gets off my back!”

“Gawrsh, I’m a little stuck, Sora.”

“Guys! Riku’s under there! You’re squishing him!” I heard Branwen yell at our friends as I wheezed for air. I let out a dismayed squeak as the pressure grew heavier, and heard Branwen shouting something else in the distance. I heard the others all around me, but it was far away and distorted to my ears. 

Gray clouded my vision, which was narrowing even as I fought for breath - wheezing as the pressure holding me down grew heavier yet again, squeezing out what little air there was left in my lungs. 

It was no good...I couldn’t- I couldn’t breathe…  

I felt the weight on my back disappear, but even as I inhaled that sweet, sweet oxygen, the light in front of me went out, and I fell completely into the gray.

Chapter Text

I groaned, lifting a hand to my pounding head. And wait, I was...draped over something? Someone?

“He’s awake!” I heard Donald shout, and I opened my eyes just in time for Goofy to start to put me down.

“Uh, what happened?” I asked, rather confused as I steadied myself on my feet.

“Well, when we all came through the window, we all landed on you, and you passed out. It wasn’t safe to leave you in one of the rooms in the house, so Goofy’s been carrying you while we’ve been fighting Heartless.” Kairi explained sheepishly. I just flushed.

“O-oh. Um, thanks guys.” I said, embarrassed.

“Don’t be embarrassed! It was our fault you lost consciousness from lack of air!” Donald told me sternly.

“Y-yeah.” I acknowledged sheepishly, before turning to Goofy. “You carried me the whole time?” I asked, a little incredulous.

“That’s right! I’m stronger than I look, ah-hyuck.” Goofy chuckled. “It was part of my training, you see. A shield’s no good if I can’t hold it up against anything that tries to get through me.” 

“I get it. Thanks, Goofy.” I said, giving him a small grin.

“We saw the king too, except he was weird. He didn’t talk.” Branwen added.

“Yeah. Not many people know this, but King Mickey used to never talk when he was younger.” Donald said. “Not even for Minnie!”

“Wait, really?” Kairi asked, floored.

“Is that why he just shook my hand really hard and then waved before taking off?” Sora asked, equally stunned. Donald nodded.

“Yeah! It’s like we’re in the past or something!” Donald complained, before freezing as his mind caught up with what he’d just said. “Wait.”

“But Donald, we can’t be. Never in my life have I seen our world black and white like this, and gawrsh, I think I’d remember something like that!” Goofy pointed out.

“Yeah, but…don’t you remember, a long time ago, Pete used to have a boat? Way before the castle was ever built?” Donald asked hesitantly.

“I sure do.” Goofy nodded.

“So wait, that guy we met is Pete in the past?” Branwen asked, looking shocked.

“Well, we’ve all taken on our past appearances…” Kairi pointed out. She and Sora might not've seen me in these clothes before but it wasn't hard to put two and two together after the mirror. “Except you two, I guess.” She added, looking over at Donald and Goofy. 

“Well...now that I think about it, I did use to wear somethin’ like this. But that was a really long time ago, ah-hyuck.” Goofy admitted.

“Same here. I’d almost forgotten...but that still doesn’t answer the question of why the world looks like this, or how we’re even in the past to begin with!” Donald complained.

“Didn’t Merlin say this was a special world?” I asked rhetorically. “Maybe it’s like a mirror. Like this is a reflection of the past or...something?” I frowned. “I don’t know. But this world definitely has something to do with the past, that I’m absolutely sure of.”

“I guess. And we don’t have to know how exactly this place works in order to stop whoever is responsible for putting the castle in danger.” Branwen pointed out. “We can get a more detailed explanation from Merlin when we get back. I’m sure he knows.”

“Good idea. Now let’s investigate this thing.” Donald said, turning to the floating window in front of the fireplace, at the far end of the room. Oh. Right. They’d already helped Mickey while I was out.

That whole thing was just embarrassing…

Like before, Donald headed over and gave the braided cord a good yank, the curtains flying open as he did so, revealing a blank white space behind them. Unlike what happened before, that light suddenly expanded to fill my entire vision, and when I could see again, I was looking out in a vaguely familiar room, the world still in black and white, and directly at Maleficent’s back. Nuggets!

“You absolute idiot!” Maleficent snapped, making me flinch backward - only, I didn’t move. “You’ve managed to fail at everything! And what’s more…” she added as she turned around, and my eyes widened as I recognized the familiar trenches where the Battle of a Thousand Heartless would take place in plain view out the misshapen window. “You foolishly thought you could take my place while I was away.”

My view shifted outside of my control, turning to the side and looking downward to avoid meeting Maleficent’s eyes. The knowledge that I was viewing an event of the past was the only thing that stopped me from having an absolute meltdown at the thought of being possessed again, and even then the unwilling motion still made me afraid.

“Well as of now you’re finished!” Maleficent snapped, drawing ‘my’ attention back to her with a snap. “Mark my words, there’ll be no place for you when our time comes!” She turned around, clearly done with ‘me’. She turned her head back, sneering out one final parting shot. “Useless imbecile...” 

“But-but...but I…!” ‘I’ stammered out, Pete’s voice ringing in my ears. This really was far too similar to my possession a year before to make me at all comfortable with this.

The last thing I saw was the end of Maleficent’s robe disappearing around the corner of the balcony - or maybe outside stairs/ramp thing, I wouldn’t even be surprised - before everything went white again. When it cleared, I was back in the room of the house with my friends and family, heart pounding and unable to resist a shudder.

“You okay, Riku?” Sora asked, concerned. 

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. That was just, way too much like when Ansem was possessing me to be comfortable.” I explained.

“Aw no! We were just watching a vision or something, Riku.” Donald tried to reassure me.

“I know, it was just the feeling of being moved without my control that was doing it.” I tried to clarify.

“Gawrsh, that must’ve been scary.” Goofy frowned. I nodded.

“Yeah. But I knew I wasn’t possessed, so I was okay. It was just, r-really uncomfortable.” I said. 

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but that was definitely Pete’s voice I heard.” Branwen said, changing the topic. “To think that Maleficent actually gave him the boot though…” he added, shaking his head.

“Yeah. Donald and Goofy and I never saw Pete until the Mysterious Tower though. So did she fire Pete before Destiny Islands even fell?” Sora wondered, before turning to me. “What about you, Riku? Did you see him in Hollow Bastion?” he asked.

I threw up my hands in response. “Don’t look at me, I made sure I only kept the castle within sight, not grabbing distance! If Pete was there, that’s where he would’ve been, not out in the ruins like I was. Though wherever they were right then, it wasn’t the castle. You saw those trenches outside, right?”

“Yeah. There definitely wasn’t anything like that outside of the castle. Just that upside-down waterfall.” Donald agreed.

“Except that was her main base of operations, right? Where she was keeping us Princesses of Heart, and where the Final Keyhole was located. Why wouldn’t she have set up shop in her old base?” Kairi wondered, frowning.

“I dunno. I didn’t think she would’ve ever thought conceding the Final Keyhole to be an acceptable option, so why there…?” I mused. “Maybe this was after Kin-ng Mickey told me the worlds were restored, and Squall and the others are keeping her out of the castle?” Whew, close one there. I almost said Kingdom Hearts One, and man, that was something I did not want to have to explain. 

“Maybe. But their city is far enough away that their defenses don’t go that far, I think. And they’re busy fixing up things there.” Kairi pointed out. “Anyway, she said Pete tried to take her place, so that must’ve been after you guys took her out in Hollow Bastion. But why would she be mad at him for that? I mean, with the leader gone, wouldn’t the second in command assume leadership until she got back?” Kairi wondered, frowning.

“But wait a minute!” Donald protested. “What about all the other guys in the group? They would’ve gotten mad at Pete for trying to take over, right?”

“That’s a good question, Donald. Though since we defeated them all, that probably just meant that there was only Pete left to lead.” Goofy suggested. 

“Yeah, probably...” Sora conceded. My other two siblings just had looks of bewilderment on their faces, and after a moment I realized why. 

“Um, guys? You’re telling me there was a group of people involved in kidnapping the Princesses of Heart? Not just Maleficent?” I questioned. Sora, Donald, and Goofy just looked confused for a moment, before all facepalming in unison.

“Doh! I forgot you wouldn’t know, Riku!” Goofy said apologetically.

Branwen raised his hand from the elbow up. “I didn’t either.”

“Neither did I.” Kairi added.

“That’s right. Sorry guys.” Sora apologized. 

“Maleficent was working with a whole bunch of other bad guys from other worlds to kidnap all the Princesses of Heart and take them to Hollow Bastion. By the time we got there, we’d defeated everyone but her.” Goofy explained. 

“Ah, gotcha.” I said. “That makes sense. It would be a lot easier to track them all down with multiple people working together.”

“Exactly.” Donald agreed.

“Well, the window isn’t white anymore. It actually looks like the weird window from before, but with a neighborhood instead of a room, see?” Branwen pointed out, drawing our attention back to the object in question. “It probably leads to another part of this world too. Should we go through?”

“I mean...probably. We got something from finding this window, maybe the next will give us more information.” Kairi suggested.

“Sounds like a plan to me. Let’s go!” Donald said, opening the window and diving straight into it, vanishing in a ripple in the watery-like surface.

“Alrighty then. Let’s make sure to wait a few moments before the next person goes in, so we don’t end up suffocating someone else.” Branwen chuckled, before touching the portal with a finger and being sucked inside. I watched as everyone took their turn to make their way through the window portal, thinking. I didn’t want to end up on a heap on the ground again, since this world apparently loved launching people, and that’s when I got an idea. When everyone else had gone, I shifted forms and leapt through the portal, landing steadily on my feet and dispersing my darkness once I was on solid ground.

“Cheater.” Kairi couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey, all’s fair in love and war.” I grinned, before turning around to see if the window had disappeared, which it had. “Well, looks like that was a one way trip. Any idea of where we’re supposed to go now?” I asked, turning back to face the group.

“I don’t- wait, wasn’t it just daytime?” Branwen asked, looking around at our surroundings. “Why is it sudde- fire!!” he shrieked, pointing to a large building to our left. Fires were starting to blossom from the windows, with fire alarms beginning to sound shrilly to life.

Also, the building was waving and bending almost comically side to side in a way that could only be possible in a cartoon world.

“Look! There’s the king!” Sora shouted, pointing at the mouse trapped between flames at the side of the building. “We’ve gotta help him!”

“Right behind you!” Kairi shouted, charging ahead with the rest of us toward the imperiled Disney mascot. The mouse’s eyes widened and he pointed dramatically behind us; I was already turning, Midnight Blue out to slash through a Shadow behind me.

“Guys! That fire in front of the building is alive, and it’s sending these bouncing fireball things into the building!” Branwen warned.

“Split up then! Goofy, protect the king! Branwen and I will cover you while Sora, Kairi, and Riku take out that fire!” Donald ordered. We scattered, each falling smoothly into our own roles, and I focused my attention on taking out the Heartless blocking our way to the living blaze.

“Try to avoid light attacks, Kairi! Getting flash-blinded here would be a really bad idea!” I warned my sister.

“Got it! No wind attacks, either!” Kairi pointed out, before engaging in a deadly dance with the Heartless. While Branwen sent a wave of darkness out to wipe out a group of Heartless in front of him, I sent out a dark Skyward Strike to clear a path to the blaze.

“Riku, shift forms! Wolves see better in the dark!” Branwen suggested, and yeah, that was a great idea. Pulling my darkness around me, I landed on four paws and immediately fired off a ring of darkness to nail the Heartless that thought to take advantage of my pausing to shift forms, before lunging in keyblade swinging against the mob.

The living blaze was our first priority; we couldn’t start dousing the flames in what looked like an apartment building with the thing continually launching new ones at it. Once we cleared out the Heartless puppy-guarding the thing, we were free to douse it. And douse it we did.

“Dark Blizzara!”

<Dark Blizzara!>

The flames melted the pair of ice boulders into water, immediately drenching the entire thing and putting it out. And they say frost is weak to fire, ha. A few more dark spells later and the entire building was drenched.

“Now there’s just the...why are the fires in the windows disappearing?” Kairi wondered, facing the building with a confused expression on her face. Turning to see what it was she was looking at, I was greeted with the sight of the flames disappearing from the building, which was no longer swaying alarmingly, but rather slowing back down until it stood tall again.

“That’s...huh. Maybe they were all linked to that fire thing?” Branwen asked. 

I went to shrug only to abruptly run into the fact that I couldn’t, not on four legs. <Makes about as much sense as anything.> I said, slightly miffed at the discovery. 

As we started walking back to the side of the building where we’d last seen Mickey, I was treated to the hilarious sight of Mickey about shaking Sora’s arm off. I couldn’t help it; I busted a gut laughing, the series of hacking barks kickstarting everyone else into laughing with me.

“Rikuuuu, stop laughing.” Sora whined as Mickey enthusiastically shook his hand, though he was smiling as he said it. “Guuuuys!” He complained, before cracking up himself. The mouse let go, waving at Sora happily, before turning and running off to parts unknown. 

“Glad that’s over with. That building’s got people in it.” Donald said.

<Yeah. All of the fires were in unlit rooms though...I hope that means no one was in there.> I commented. I mean, this world was much more Disney than Final Fantasy, so probably, but still. That didn’t mean those elements weren’t there - Goofy was, or would be, injured to the point where Sora and Donald thought he was dead during the Battle of a Thousand Heartless, so…

“Hey, there’s another window there.” Kairi said, pointing back toward the neighborhood we’d come from. I spun around, and sure enough, there was.

<Great. Let’s just get this over with.> I said unenthusiastically. Sora reached down and patted my furry shoulder in sympathy. 

“It’s alright. If this is anything like the other one, it’ll only be a couple minutes. And maybe it’ll even be the last one.” he said, trying to cheer me up. I just nodded in response. He was right about it only being a few minutes, but I still had two more to slog through after this. Joy.

Donald wordlessly pulled the cord, and everything went white again. When it cleared, I was once again seeing from Pete’s perspective, in that fortress thing surrounded by what I knew was a sea of Heartless down in those trenches. A thousand of them.

“Aw, for cryin’ out loud...she didn’t have to go and say that. Okay, I mighta messed up every now and then. But I’m a lot more things than useless…!” ‘My’ gaze looked up against my will toward the ceiling, Pete probably struggling to hold back tears. “Why, when I was startin’ out…” ‘My’ voice wobbled as he dropped my gaze. “Oh...I miss those good ol’ days. What I wouldn’t give to go back in time…” Pete sobbed through me, before sniffling. “What I wouldn’t give…”

A strange sound, almost like a chiming inhale, sounding from behind ‘me’, the walls lighting up from the sudden appearance of a light source behind Pete. I was turned around, before involuntarily gaping as Pete’s surprise at the sight manifested through me.

“Huh?” he wondered, approaching the silver doors that most certainly hadn’t been there before. The same doors we’d come into Timeless River from.

Naturally, Pete approached, examining the doors before reaching forward with ‘my’ arms and pulling them open. As he did, whiteness filled my vision, and the last thing I heard him say before things were back to normal was, “Hey, I think that’s my-!”

“Those doors! Those are the same doors we came through!” Branwen shouted as I was still blinking the whiteness away.

“Yeah, we saw. And that means that Pete is definitely our guy!” Donald announced, before looking a little sheepish. “Ah, I mean future Pete.”

<Don’t you mean present Pete?> I couldn't help but ask, teeth bared in a wolfy grin.

“Waa-aa-aa-aa-ah! You know what I mean!” Donald protested with a frustrated scream.

“We do, don’t worry.” Kairi chuckled, before growing serious. “Looks like we have our guy. And no wonder he stole the past Pete’s boat - it’s also his, after all.”

<And he’s gotta be why there’s Heartless here even though the Cornerstone is just fine in this time period.> I said.

“Well, now that we know who to look for, catching him should be easy. I mean, it’s not like Pete is easy to miss.” Sora giggled.

“True that.” Branwen agreed with a laugh of his own.

“Alright, alright, enough wasting time. The castle’s in danger, so we gotta go stop him!” Donald reminded us, completely extinguishing the previous air of levity. He scrutinized the now-portal window, before adding, “Looks like a country town of some sort. Meet you there!” 

And with that, Donald was gone. Again. I wasn’t the last one through this time, and froze in shock at the sight of the miniaturized town standing in broad daylight as though it weren’t completely out of the ordinary. I didn’t remember this!

The feeling of someone crashing into me brought me back to reality.

“Ow, Riku!” Sora complained.

<Sorry!> I apologized, quick to untangle myself from Sora and get out of the way. The two of us barely made it in time before Goofy was launched through the window.

“Whoa! The whole town’s shrunk!” Sora exclaimed, looking around in surprise.

<Why do you think I didn’t get out of the way in time?> I asked, Branwen coming flying through the window to collide roughly with the ground. <You okay, Branwen?>

“Just peachy.” my twin groaned, opting to roll over out of the way rather than try to pick himself up in time. Kairi came out next, stumbling on her landing and falling over, but at least she hadn’t been shot into the ground. And with all of us now on the other side, the window, frame and all, rippled once before vanishing into nothing.

“Why on earth is everything shrunk? ” Branwen asked, gaping at the town around us. I mean, the taller roofs only came up to Sora’s chest, for crying out loud. Granted, they could have been smaller, like those in Wonderland…

“Ya know, maybe we were just the ones who got bigger.” Goofy pointed out.

<Who knows?> I asked rhetorically, dissipating my darkness and standing on two legs again. I wasn’t tall enough as a wolf to see over the houses here. The same houses that were doing this strange kind of bouncing up and down in place.

“Haha, look at all the toy cannons!” Sora laughed, looking over at a stone tower armed with, you guessed it, little canons. 

“Uhh, you sure those are toys?” I asked apprehensively, eying the tower warily as several of my friends surrounded the tower to better investigate it.

“Well, I dunno…” Goofy frowned.

“Hey, that’s the king.” Branwen said, pointing in Mickey’s direction, where the mouse was frantically bouncing up and down waving his hands. I reacted immediately; when it came to warnings, I was of the school of thought where you reacted first and asked questions later.

“Hit the dirt!” I shouted, body-checking Sora and I to the ground. Everyone else immediately did as I said, but...nothing happened.

“Riku? What was that about?” Donald asked, getting to his feet. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“Sorry, thought Mickey was trying to tell us that the tower was gonna go off.” I apologized. At this size those things were like bullets, and even though I could take those so much better than I could ever dream of on Earth, as though they were simply paintballs and not the deadly little projectiles that I knew, they were still, you know. Bullets.

“Well I- Heartless!” Donald shouted as the unmistakable noise of propellers echoed through the air, pointing at the trio of actual Heartless in helicopters diving down to circle the mini town. No seriously, these things had aviator helmets, goggles, scarves, the whole nine yards. It was actually kind of adorable.

Of course, those weren’t the only ones. More Heartless marched out from behind us, while another squadron of airplane Heartless made their way down to our level.

I summoned Midnight Blue, throwing my arm up to strike an airplane Heartless out of the air. “Come on! Just be careful of the houses!”

“Yeah! Go hide, your- err, Mickey! We’ve got this!” Sora shouted back at the mouse in question. Mickey rapidly nodded his head before taking off for...something big enough to hide behind, I’d guess.

Actually, would Mickey remember us being here? Something to ask when we met up with him again, since Pete sure wouldn’t talk with us about it. You’d think if we helped him, though, then-

I ducked under a trio of airplane Heartless that just tried to take my head off, before firing off a light Skyward Strike to wipe them out of the sky. Right, priorities.

Fighting around the small town was a lot harder than it sounded. We were big enough to do some very real damage here, and I didn’t know how our actions would translate to the present Disney Castle. Not to mention demolishing people’s houses, even by accident, was just rude.

It was still really hard not to accidentally hit them in the middle of battle. We didn’t dare shoot anything at the ground Heartless due to the risk of potentially hitting a building, instead electing to take them out manually with melee strikes from our weapons. Flying Heartless on the other hand were fair game as far as magic went - except Blizzard, because the last thing we needed was ballistic ice boulders coming down out of the sky and squishing things.

Finally, the last of the Heartless was gone, and we could breathe easy again.

“Whew. That wasn’t fun.” Branwen commented.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Sora agreed, before looking around. “So where’s the ki-?”

Mickey had jumped out from behind the stone wall bordering one side of the town even as Sora spoke, and excitedly raced over to attempt to shake his arm off again. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight - what I wouldn’t have given to have been in that position when I was younger! And Sora’s face! Priceless.

“Hey guys! There’s another window over there.” Kairi said, gesturing to the section of the stone wall that had a road going through a tunnel carved out of it. And there it was, floating in front of it.

I never thought I’d hate these living cutscene devices, but here we are. Maybe if I was just watching I wouldn’t, but since I was forced to be a part of it I did.

“Hope this is the last one.” Sora said with a rueful glance at me. “Now that we know it’s Pete behind this mess, we need to find and lock the doors he used ASAP.”

“No argument from me.” I agreed, before stepping forward. “I’ll get the cord this time, if you don’t mind Donald.”

“Nope. Go right ahead.” the duck said. Giving him a grateful smile, I took hold of the cord, and after a moment’s hesitation, gave it a good yank. Whiteness burst from the window again, and when it cleared, I once more found myself looking out from Pete’s perspective.

And of course, there was Maleficent, standing in front of the doors with an intrigued expression on her face. She really didn’t deserve the man’s loyalty.

“Fascinating…” she murmured. “This appears to be a portal to the past!”

Pete nodded my head, before speaking up. “Yeah, it was the strangest thing!” Maleficent was quick to round on ‘me’ with a sneer on her face.

“Stop gawking!” she commanded. “And start thinking of a way we can use it to our advantage!”

“Okay.”

“Now, perhaps I could give you one more chance to redeem yourself.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at that, or, well, try to. I couldn’t, because Pete wasn’t, but I was still rolling them in my head. Of course she’d suddenly decide to take him back, now that he had something she wanted to use.

Pete clasped my hands together in front of him. “Oh, thank you, thank you! You can count on me…!” he said gratefully. It made my heart ache a little, seeing this. “So, what do I do?”

“Patience, my dear…” Maleficent told him, turning back to face the object of her interest. “What have we here? Well, if it isn’t the Cornerstone of Light...”

Wait, she could see through the whiteness? Not fair!

“Mmm...now we can take the castle from those fools - but we’ll have to proceed with the utmost of care…”

Pete took a moment to turn my gaze toward the crest above the doors, before everything whited out again, and I was back to normal.

“Great, now we have to deal with Pete and Maleficent.” Sora groaned. Well, just Pete actually, but that did raise the point of why Maleficent hadn’t come in here with him. Maybe she felt it beneath her? Probably. That is, unless she’d decided otherwise this time around. Wonderful. Better keep an eye out, then. 

“That explains why she used an illusion instead of showing up personally. Or maybe it was just because the Cornerstone wasn’t weak enough to let her in yet.” Donald said, before crossing his arms with a scowl. “Otherwise I bet my tail feathers she would’ve been invading!”

“Well, this at least confirms that however it works, we’re actually in the past.” I said. “We’d best be really careful then.”

“No kidding. We can’t spoil things.” Goofy agreed.

“Does this mean Pete and the king will remember what we do here?” Kairi asked hesitantly. Everyone paused for a moment to mull this over.

“I mean, while I wouldn’t be surprised, it’s been long enough that Donald and Goofy straight up didn’t even recognize themselves in the mirror, right? So while they might, it might’ve actually been long enough that they’ve forgotten.” I pointed out before pausing as something hit me. “Actually, I don’t know if it was just small talk, but while Mickey and I were trapped in the Realm of Darkness he asked if I had any siblings. I think he was actually surprised when I said I didn’t?” I said, flabbergasted.

“That makes sense, I wouldn’t have come into being yet.” Branwen nodded, before chuckling. “Well, if he did remember he would’ve been worried when I wasn’t around, but after Castle Oblivion things would’ve made sense. I bet he wasn’t expecting me to be a replica though!” he laughed.

“I imagine me apparently not having a twin was pretty worrying for him.” I giggled. Kairi cracked a smile.

“We’ll have to ask Mickey when we see him again.” she said.

“Wait, but if Mickey remembered, that means he’d have known who I was before we even met.” Sora said in a tone of dawning realization. “Or at least, that I was a keyblade wielder helping out with you guys. Same with Riku and Branwen, meaning he would’ve known there were three keybearers out there somewhere.” Sora added, before gasping. “Maybe that’s why he sent you out looking last year - to find us! Since he needed another keybearer to seal the Door to Darkness and knew we’d be working together!”  

“Gaaaah. Time travel makes my head hurt.” Donald complained.

I couldn’t help it. “If time travel doesn’t give you a headache then you don’t understand time travel.” I quoted with a smile. I couldn’t remember where I heard it, but I knew someone said it once, I’m sure…

“Ha ha hah.” Donald drawled sarcastically, giving me a wan glare.

“It’s even more important now that we stop Pete and Maleficent. We’d best hurry before they get to the Cornerstone of Light!” Goofy pointed out worriedly.

“Yeah. Let’s get going.” Sora agreed, opening the window and touching the rippling portal. Though we all clearly wanted to charge through after him, it was best to wait a few seconds before going in. We wouldn’t save any time having to untangle ourselves, or worse, accidentally make someone else pass out. One quick transformation later and I was sailing through the portal.

We came out on a platform in a clear construction zone, people hard at work hammering away on wooden framework. This had to be where the castle was being built, something that was confirmed a second later by Donald and Goofy.

“The castle!”

“Sure is. To think we’re far enough back that the castle hasn’t even been built yet…” Goofy murmured.

“Look out!” Kairi yelled, dodging out of the way as a hammerhead Heartless (I’m not kidding, they literally had hammers for heads) dropped onto the wooden platform right where she’d been standing. The rope and hook of a crane suddenly swung in, Mickey suspended on the metal part, slamming into the Heartless hard enough to send it flying off the platform. Mickey let go at the apex of his swing, landing on a platform suspended higher up on the framework.

“Thanks, Mickey!” Sora beamed, waving at him. Mickey waved back happily, before disappearing beyond where we could see.

Of course, that wasn’t the only one. Lots of hammerhead Heartless started coming out of the woodwork - pun intended - appearing in bursts of musty darkness on the scaffolding. They were quick to try to dive bomb us, but having seen them coming we all dodged out of the way in time.

<Come on. Let’s take them out before they wreck what’s been built so far.> I said, dissipating my darkness and summoning Midnight Blue into my hand. Everyone else was already materializing their weapons, ready for a fight.

“You got that right! This is our home, or at least it will be! Now get outta here!” Donald shouted. “Aeroga!”

“Great idea Donald. Just no shooting fire, guys, okay?” Goofy warned.

“Yeah, we got that.” Branwen laughed, pointing Midnight Blue at another group of hammerheads. “Aerora!”

In hindsight, this was not the smartest place for the Heartless to ambush us. Yeah sure we were limited in movement if we didn’t want to fall off the platform that was really high in the air, but we also had wind magic. Their only saving grace was the fact that hammerheads were heavy, and had to be close to the edge in order to be blown or knocked off.

Once all of the Heartless were gone, we relaxed from our battle-ready positions. That’s when Mickey came out of freaking nowhere with hands raised, making a beeline straight for Sora before grabbing his hand in both of his and shaking profusely.

“Not gonna shake the rest of our hands?” Branwen asked cheekily. He instantly regretted that as Mickey let go of Sora’s hand in favor of enthusiastically shaking Branwen’s.

“Hahahaha! Mind shaking mine too, Mickey?” I asked, highly entertained. He happily did so, coming around to each member of the group to shake their hands, Donald and Goofy included, before giving us a happy wave and heading off to parts unknown. Probably to whatever was used to get down from all the scaffolding and such.

“Oh come on. Another window?” Branwen groaned. “How many more of these are there?”

“Well, there were four in that clearing, remember? So maybe this is the last one before we get back there.” I suggested.

“Makes sense. Let’s see what this one has to tell us.” Kairi said, before going over and pulling the cord. Whiteness flooded my vision for what would thankfully be the final time, at least until we left, and I was left once again gazing at Maleficent through Pete’s perspective.

“Listen well.” she said, and Pete nodded my head in response. “On the other side of this portal, they’re about to begin construction on that wretched castle. But until then, their treasured Cornerstone of Light lies unguarded, with all of its power still contained!”

Oh, so they had to actively use it to power the shield on their world? Good to know.

“The Cornerstone...of Light?” Wait what don’t tell me you don’t have a clue what the Cornerstone is you lived there!!  

“Yes. That cursed sphere is the very thing that prevents us from entering the castle.”

“Oh.” You gotta be kidding me. What, did he forget? How long ago exactly must this have been then?! Sheesh, no wonder Donald and Goofy didn’t recognize anything if it had been long enough for Pete to forget the dang Cornerstone.

“You know what must be done?” Maleficent asked him.

“Uhh…”

“Go then. Time to prove your worth!” Maleficent said, pointing a finger directly at ‘me’. “And don’t dare to fail me again!” she finished with a snarl. Well it was kinda obvious Pete didn’t have a clue what you were asking of him but okay.

As Maleficent walked out of the room, I felt a pull, and then suddenly I was no longer in Pete’s body, but outside of it. Yes! No more freaky puppeteering!

I saw Pete reach out hesitantly toward Maleficent’s back, before dropping his hand. “Don’t fail her again...let’s see…” his ears twitched a couple times, before standing straight up as an idea occurred to him. “That’s it! I just gotta smash that Cornerstone to smithereens!” Pete began laughing, clearly thrilled with this idea. “But first...I gotta go get my old boat back.”

Pete happily flung open the doors, and then the whiteness overtook my vision, taking me back to myself.

“Uh, how durable is the Cornerstone, exactly?” I asked warily. Donald and Goofy shared a glance.

“Uhhhh...well, it’s not glass.” Donald said dubiously. “It’s not gonna break so easily.”

“But you don’t know how durable it is.” Branwen frowned.

“Well of course not! It’s not like anyone would actually take a hammer to it!” Donald shouted. Branwen held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“I know, I know! Which is why we need to stop Pete before we figure that out the hard way!” he said, grabbing hold of the handles and pulling the window open. “Look, there’s the clearing in the crossroads! Let’s go!” he said, before practically ramming his fist into the portal. He disappeared, shortly followed by Sora, Donald, Kairi, Goofy, and then myself, once I’d shifted back to my dark form.

Landing in the clearing, I found I was just in time to hear a dismayed shout from my twin brother.

“No! He’s, he’s already-!” Branwen said, stricken. “H-he’s already broken it?!”

<No, no he hasn’t!> I said, before sniffing. <I can still smell it - I don’t know if he’s broken it yet, but he has taken it somewhere else! Maybe we can catch up to him before he does!>

“Whew! Now let’s go get it back!” Donald said. “Lead the way, Riku.”

<On it!> I said, breathing in before pelting down the road labeled ‘Waterway’, the sharp and powerful smell of the Cornerstone of Light burning in my nose. That thing was literally impossible to miss; I could track this giant marble literally anywhere, I swear. I did make sure to keep my pace slow enough for the others to follow, wolves were a lot faster than humans and there was no point in me leading the way if I ended up leaving them behind in the dust.

Actually, hang on. Does this mean I can track Kairi and Naminé in the same way, since their scents are the same? And my other friends, I’ve been with them for a long time. Could I track them by scent too?

Something to try out when we weren’t in the middle of a time-sensitive rescue mission.

As soon as the riverbank came in sight, we saw a wooden cage hooked to the back of a small steamboat, with the Cornerstone of Light safely inside. Aaaaand two Petes fighting, can’t forget that. It was actually pretty funny to watch.

Pete roughly shoved his past self, sending the other cat staggering back a step. “Your future’s on the line, pallie, so back off and give me the boat!” He followed that up with a shockingly powerful haymaker, nailing his past self square in the jaw and sending him flying over several dozen feet down the road. 

“The Cornerstone!” Donald shouted, Pete jumping up onto the top of the wooden cage as he did so as a stepping stone to make the jump onto his boat. Oh no not on my watch!

Pete started up his steamboat, saluting us mockingly as we started to pursue him down the river. Pushing myself faster, I took a running leap from the shore and sailed right between the wide wooden bars - which only needed to be close enough together to hold the Cornerstone securely, not keep people out - landing safely in the wooden cage holding the Cornerstone. I turned around in time to watch in dismay as we pulled far enough away from the shore that the others couldn’t follow. I’d only just been fast enough, and that was running as a wolf, not a human.

“Get in front of me!” Donald shouted, running behind the others. I was just as confused as the rest of them, at least until Donald shouted, “Aeroga!” and sent the rest of our friends flying toward the boat.

Sweet, that works. Only Goofy and Kairi landed on the boat - it wasn’t an exact science, after all - but I wasn’t the only one aboard anymore.

“Why you little- get off my boat!” Pete howled, presumably going on the offensive, before yelping as I heard the wind pick up and saw the green winds fly out from the top of the cage as Kairi retaliated with an Aerora. It sounded like Pete barely kept his footing from being blown off, before knocking Goofy aside.

“Heartless! Get ‘em!” he snarled, and they snapped to his command - appearing in the waters of the river around us, ready and willing to tear us to shreds.

<Focus on Pete! I got these guys! Dark Aerora!> I shouted up to the others, before focusing my energies on the Heartless around us. Unfortunately, these Heartless were smart enough to have a Thunder resistance, but that was fine - there was more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. Blasts of Dark Aerora did the trick well enough.

Happily for me, they weren’t eager to approach the Cornerstone of Light, instead firing ranged attacks and spells of their own and me and my friends. That left me with a safe platform to stand on, which was good because fighting underwater would be quite a bit harder. My family and I could swim like fish but we’d never tried fighting underwater like this.

Something to learn before we hit Atlantica for sure.

Firing off these Dark Aeroras as I was was displacing the water the Heartless were in, shooting them out of the water to skip backwards a bit along the surface like a demented skipping stone while also taking wind damage at the same time. I was a bit limited as far as aim went, because I did not want to collapse this thing on top of me thank you, but-

Actually wait. If I did collapse this thing the Cornerstone would stop it from squishing me. Only problem is I’d take out Kairi and Goofy along with Present Pete if I did that, and the waters weren’t safe right now. On the other hand, the cage wasn’t big enough to support a battle between two people, much less three. Someone was going to fall off eventually; might as well do it on my terms.

<I’m cutting the cage!> I shouted in warning.

“What?!” I heard Pete bellow from above me. “Are you crazy?!”

Nope, this was calculated. I couldn’t just fire off rings of darkness until the cage collapsed, because I’d be hitting the Cornerstone too and that would just defeat the point. Running around and cutting through the bars, on the other hand, was just fine.

With a creaking snap, the last bar fell, and I plastered myself onto the ground next to the giant marble as the top fell off and caught on the Cornerstone. I heard Kairi, Goofy, and Pete sliding off the cage with varying shouts of apprehension and dread before they splashed into the water. I pulled back my darkness, standing up on two feet and knocking the top of the wooden cage fully off and into the river. That done, I took the opportunity to start firing away at the Heartless aiming to attack my friends while they were just as out of their element as Pete was.

Another plume of water kicked up from a different direction, marking the death of a Heartless, and I turned to see Sora, Donald, and Branwen swimming up to the boat. Right, Pete wasn’t driving, so the boat was a sitting duck!

“Need a little help?” Sora asked cheekily.

“Gladly.” I told him, before shooting off an Aerora with gusto. The trio quickly joined me on the platform in clearing out the waters, which took all of thirty seconds with all of us blasting them to pieces. That taken care of, we jumped into the waters to help out against Pete.

I was right, fighting underwater was harder. Not as much as I thought it would be though. It wasn’t the fighting itself that was the problem, just balancing keeping myself afloat and pulling off my spells and attacks.

Weird. Then again, not on Earth.

“He’s down. Now someone help me hold him up.” Kairi said, struggling to keep both herself and Pete’s impressive bulk afloat.

“I gotcha.” Sora, Branwen, and I said at the same time, all of us swimming over and holding up various parts of Pete. The boat hadn’t had the time to make it very far from shore, so it wasn’t long before we managed to get over there and dump Pete on the grass. And with an Aero, it wasn’t ten seconds before I was completely dry. 

Gotta love magic. 

“Whew! What a brick.” Branwen groaned. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, you know what they say. All that blubber helps you float.” I pointed out with a cheeky smile.

“Well, what are we gonna do with him now? I don’t feel comfortable just leaving him here while we go find and lock the other doorway.” Sora said, frowning as he crossed his arms in front of him.

“Yeah, he’d just take off with the Cornerstone again!” Donald agreed.

“Some of us should stay behind then.” Goofy suggested.

“Good idea. Hey, actually…” Kairi said, turning to me. “You were able to track down the Cornerstone, right? Do you think you could retrace Pete’s steps that way?”

“I mean, maybe? The Cornerstone’s easy to follow, that much light is impossible to miss. But the only one darker than Pete is Branwen, so maybe…” I hedged, uncertain.

“It doesn’t hurt to try.” Donald pointed out. I nodded.

“Yeah, that’s true.” I conceded. “Alright, so I’m definitely on the away team then. Who else is coming with? Besides Sora.” I added as my little brother opened his mouth. He closed it, chuckling, and I shot him a smile.

“I should stay, that way I won’t accidentally cover up the trail you’re looking for.” Branwen offered. I nodded at him in thanks.

“I’ll stay too! I wanna keep an eye on him.” Donald said, shooting Pete a nasty glare.

“If I come, will I cover up the scent?” Kairi asked worriedly. I thought it over, before shrugging.

“No idea. Probably no more than anyone else coming with. I’ll be looking for darkness, not light.” I said. Kairi nodded.

“Got it. Then I’ll come with, that’ll put a mage in both groups.” she decided.

“Gawrsh, that means I’m staying too.” Goofy said. “Be careful you three. Who knows how many Heartless are still left wanderin’ around.”

“Yeah, we’ll be careful. You guys too - Pete’s not gonna be a happy camper when he wakes up.” Sora pointed out.

“Yeah, but we got him!” Donald said proudly. “You focus on getting those doors shut.”

“Alright, here goes nothing.” I said a little nervously. I took in a few deep breaths, getting an idea of the earthier scent I was looking for. Again, Branwen was darker, but wherever Pete had been going wouldn’t have trails of varying shades of light and dark along with it. 

I was just looking for a single trail. I could do this.

“This way, I think.” I said, following the smell of damp earth back up the road. Sora and Kairi kept a wary eye on our surroundings, which was great because I was too absorbed in this to focus on anything else.

The trail went in circles a lot, which made sense as Pete hadn’t exactly been walking in a straight line. Several times I lost it at the river and had to walk the shores until I picked up the scent again from when he got off the boat.

“Okay, this is where it started, I’m pretty sure.” I said, standing with my siblings in the middle of a wharf. “Except, there’s no door. Wonderful.” I groaned. “So much for tracking him down…sorry guys.”

“Hey, it’s okay. You tried.” Sora said.

“Yeah…” I said dejectedly, looking down at the ground. “I really thought it was gonna work too…”

“I mean, when Pete came in he said he saw his boat, right? So he probably did come in through here.” Kairi spoke up. “The question is, does he have to summon the door to leave? Wait, do we have to summon our door back to leave?”

“We should check. If you’re right then we just have to go back to where we left Pete.” Sora decided. Walking back up the hill, we found the door right where we’d left it.

“Well, that’s a bummer.” I sighed. “Let’s head back to the others.”

As we made our way back down the hill, we heard a commotion going on at the wharf. Sharing a concerned glance, we raced back down there just in time to see Pete locked in an all-out brawl with Past Pete, Branwen, Donald, and Goofy.

“What the heck happened?” I asked, before we all charged. Turns out we didn’t need to; Pete was already backing off, and one look at the approaching calvary was all it took before he apparently decided to call his losses and get out of here. With an expression of great effort, he summoned the doors in front of him before diving through.

“Yeah, and stay out, creep!” Past Pete yelled, shaking a fist at the doors. Branwen was quick to raise Midnight Blue and seal the doors before they could be opened again. We watched as light coated the doors in a way very similar to the light that had been on the Door to Darkness when it had been sealed, and then the door to the past vanished.

“Good riddance.” Branwen spat.

“Hey, guys!” Goofy said, greeting us. “Looks like he was cartin’ the door around with him.”

“Yeah, we noticed.” I said. Past Pete just crossed his arms and glared at the space where the doors had been.

“This is where that creep stole my boat! I dunno what those doors were, but I definitely heard ‘em being locked! He won’t be coming back here, that’s for sure.” the big cat huffed.

“You’re right about that. He’s locked out well and good.” Sora said.

“Good!” Past Pete said emphatically. 

“Wait, what about Maleficent?” Kairi asked. “Did we just lock her in here with us?”

Everyone froze at this statement, clear horror in their eyes. We couldn’t take Maleficent through our door with us, but leaving her here in the past? Not an option.

Hopefully she didn’t decide to make a different decision on her own and go in anyway. Then we’d be screwed.

“Maleficent? Who’s that?” Past Pete asked.

“Really tall, really ugly green skinned lady with horns. You seen her?” I asked before anyone else could say anything.

Past Pete frowned, scratching his head. “Well, nope. I’ve been all over hunting down that creep, and I woulda noticed a lady like that around.”

We all let out a collective sigh of relief at that.

“Well…” Past Pete spoke up, looking thoughtful. “That Cornerstone ain’t gonna get back to where it belongs alone. And my deck hand Mickey’s late, so…”

“Deck hand?!” Everybody but Donald and Goofy shouted.

“What, you didn’t- oh yeah.” Donald said sheepishly.

“That’s right! Now, since you helped chase off that thief, I’m gonna let you pilot my steamboat! Best little craft on the river, that she is!” Past Pete said proudly.

“Heck yeah! Count me in!” Branwen cheered, eyes alight with excitement, and he wasn’t the only one. This was the original Disney boat - and I’d get a chance to drive it!

Forget driving spaceships, this right here was the epitome of awesome!!

It was a ways downriver where we’d left it after defeating Pete, but the Cornerstone was still safe and sound on its floating wooden platform, ready to be taken back where it belonged. I was in awe as we boarded, looking at the steering wheel before me. “Can I...can I take the wheel first? Please? I-I mean, we’ll all take turns and stuff, I just…”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Branwen said, a clear grin on his face.

“Thank you.” I breathed, and gingerly took hold of the wheel. This was it, this was the boat. I was holding the wheel to the original steamboat.

“Alright, full speed for Cornerstone Hill!” Past Pete announced, before pointing upriver.

“You got it, captain!” I shouted back with a grin, before gripping the wheel tighter as the engines of the boat started up. Pure delight lit up my face, and I couldn’t help but laugh as the boat started going. Behind me, someone pulled on the whistle, sending the blaring sound of the steamboat’s whistles out for the world to hear. And I, I just…

I started tapping my foot and whistling that tune, the one whose name I can’t remember, but it's the one Mickey would whistle while behind the wheel of this very boat, in that animation that played when Disney was credited, before the movie started.

Look, I can’t remember, okay? Sixteen years. But even though the hows and whys have faded away, I still know the song.

After about a minute of this, I knew it was now or never. “Come on Kairi, your turn.” I said, looking back at her.

“Wait, what?” she asked, surprised.

“It’s not far to the hill, so if everyone wants a turn, we’ll each be on for a minute or so.” I explained.

“Well, alright.” Kairi said, reaching for the wheel. We traded off, and I got to see my sister get excited as she piloted an engined boat for the first time. I couldn’t help a smirk as I reached up and took my turn to pull on the whistle.

Past Pete just watched indulgently with a pleased expression on his face as we all took our turns, keeping a watchful eye on the river in case he needed to take over suddenly. I bet it made his day, us being so excited over his boat. It was his pride and joy in this time period, after all. 

Finally, we made it back to the wharf, and Past Pete shoved his way forward to take over. He glided the boat into the dock and set anchor, looking very pleased with himself.

“Alright. I can trust you pip-squeaks with the Cornerstone, right? My old back’s not good for that kind of thing. Don’t wanna throw it out again, you know.” Past Pete said.

“Yeah, we’ll make sure to get it back where it belongs.” I said with a smile.

“Yeah! You can count on us!” Donald said, jabbing a thumb at himself, before freezing as he realized just who he’d said that to. The look of ‘does not compute’ on his face was just hysterical.

“Well alright. But I’ll be makin’ my way over to check later, and it better be there when I do!” Past Pete warned us.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Branwen responded. With that, Pete helped us get the Cornerstone off its floating platform, but the hard part was up to us.

“Well. Time to play Sisyphus, I guess.” I sighed, putting my hands on the back of the Cornerstone. 

“Sisyphus?” Donald frowned.

“Yeah. Old story about a guy punished to forever roll a boulder up a hill. He gets to the top and then it falls back down the other side, and he has to push it up all over again, only for it to go rolling down the other side, rinse and repeat. Now c’mon, this thing’s heavy.” I said. Granted, only three of us could push it from behind at a time, and that ended up being Sora, myself, and Goofy. The Cornerstone was actually lighter than it should be for something that size, but that didn’t mean that it was easy to get up there.

Thankfully, once we got it up the dang hill, everyone could help lever it up and back onto its stand where it belonged, at least until the castle was completed and it was moved inside.

“Whew. Glad that’s over with.” Sora said, wiping sweat off his brow.

“I betcha the castle’s safe now.” Goofy said.

“Yeah. Maleficent’s plan was an incredibly bad idea. Bet she didn’t think that one through.” I said, scowling.

“What do you mean, Riku?” Goofy asked.

“Well, she would’ve started a paradox. Without the Cornerstone, your world wouldn’t have been shielded, and so your entire history from then on would be dramatically altered. But if you never had the Cornerstone, then there’d be no reason for Pete to destroy it, meaning that it would still be there and a part of your castle as normal. Which would then make Pete go destroy it...you get the idea.” I explained.

“My head.” Donald complained. “I don’t like this time travel thing one bit!”

“At least this way, all we have is a casual loop going on.” I added nonchalantly. Man, I loved time travel stuff, no matter how big of a headache it could be. It was just so fun to speculate about! And as long as we didn’t irreparably shatter time, it was all good.

“Um, isn’t that the thing where Pete tries to break the Cornerstone, we stop him, and then time passes and Mickey meets us, and then later Pete goes to the past to break the Cornerstone, we go after him, and then time passes until Mickey meets us, and so on forever in a loop?” Branwen asked. I nodded.

“Right in one.”

“Gah! Just get me outta here already!” Donald complained, which made me crack up given that in canon he’d had to be bodily thrown out.

“Alright, alright. We’re done here anyway.” Sora said, approaching the doors.

“Yeah. And we’ve got a conversation to pick back up.” Branwen added with a scowl. 

“Oh right. Well, looks like that’ll be what we’re doing next.” Sora agreed, before stepping into the white. 

“Just a sec Riku, I’ll give you your coat back.” Branwen said, working to take it off as everyone filed out ahead of us. “Here.”

“Thanks, Branwen.” I said, accepting it. 

“I should be the one thanking you.” Branwen chuckled, before sobering. “I mean it. Thank you. That…this meant a lot to me.”

“I know.” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Let’s head back and get you out of that for good now.”

“Seriously.” Branwen agreed fervently, before turning around and marching right out of Timeless River. I stowed the cold weather coat back in my pocket before turning to face the Cornerstone, and the rest of the world beyond.

“Thank you...for the chance to make a childhood dream come true.” I whispered softly, before turning and leaving the world of the past behind.

Chapter Text

Stepping out of the whiteness of the doors, I was happy to both not be thrown on my butt and to see the Hall of the Cornerstone looking much more like the other rooms of the castle. And turns out there were other light sources than the Cornerstone itself. Good to know.

“Welcome back!” Queen Minnie told us happily.

“It’s good to be back.” I smiled. Even knowing it would be gone, I couldn’t help but reach up toward my head, where my favorite beanie from my life before had sat while we were in Timeless River. It was gone of course, it was only a world disguise after all. Still, it made my heart ache. I hadn’t been expecting to see that again. To see any of that again. I almost wanted to go back- but no. That way lay madness.

“I’ll say. I still haven’t forgotten that conversation we need to have.” Branwen said, giving Merlin a narrow-eyed look, to which the man in question responded with a confused expression on his face.

“I’m afraid I haven’t the foggiest notion of what you mean, young man.” Merlin said.

“Gawrsh, it’s about what you said before, Merlin.” Goofy explained. “You told us that dark and evil were the same thing, but they sure aren’t.”

“What are you talking about? Darkness is a force that must always be battled against. Whether internal or external, darkness tempts you into doing things that are morally wrong.” Merlin replied, frowning.

“No i-”

“No, it doesn’t.” Donald said, cutting Branwen off as he started to speak. “I used to think that too, that darkness was bad. But it’s not! One of the Nobodies at Castle Oblivion, Zexion, used a massive light attack to try and destroy Riku. That light wasn’t good then!” he said with a huff, crossing his arms. “It was only Riku’s darkness that saved him from getting really hurt, or worse!”

“Not to mention the fact that Riku, and then later I, were able to take the Corridors of Darkness in order to rescue Roxas and Zion in the first place.” Branwen added. “We wouldn’t have been able to do that at all if we didn’t have that access to and control over the darkness.”

“I...hmm. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Darkness is still a very real danger, that much is for sure...but to think that it can be used for good…” Merlin trailed off, muttering to himself. “Well, I’ll have to look that one over, that’s for sure. Th-thank you, actually, for the reminder that while I certainly have seen a lot, this old man doesn’t know everything yet!” Merlin chuckled. 

I couldn’t help but give him a smile. He was much more reasonable than Yen Sid, that was for sure.

“Now, back to the task at hand. I-I-I hope you didn’t do anything reckless while you were there?” he asked, understandably concerned.

“Aside from creating a time loop, no.” Kairi said, frowning a little.

“W-well yes, that bit was unavoidable. It was the nature of the task, see.” Merlin nodded. “At any rate, thank you f-”

“Donald!” Daisy’s recognizable voice echoed through the room as she poked her head into the Hall of the Cornerstone. “What a relief! And thank you for actually coming back to visit sooner than you did the last time!” she added crossly, coming over to where the rest of us were standing.

“Aww, sorry Daisy.” Donald apologized.

“Well, we were busy saving the world, ah-hyuck.” Goofy chuckled. Daisy just gave a little ‘hmpf!’ in response, tossing her head to the side scornfully.

“Which is the only reason why I’m not mad at him for missing our date!” she huffed. “Well, mostly. Are you guys here to stay this time?”

“Sorry. Aside from crashing for the night, we’ve still got the Organization to stop and people to save.” Kairi apologized. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet. I’m Kairi, who are you?”

“Donald! You didn’t even introduce me?!” Daisy gasped, clearly offended by this. “I’m Daisy, this lout’s girlfriend.” she added. “It’s nice to meet you too; us girls have to stick together, right?”

“Right.” Kairi laughed. “I’ve certainly got my hands full keeping these boys in line!”

“Hey!”

“I’m not that bad!”

“What gives?!”

“What’s the big idea?” The rest of us protested. Kairi just started giggling in response.

“Come on guys, I’m just teasing you. Heaven knows you’ve already bailed me out of nasty situations before.” she said with a smile.

“And you us. I can’t count how many times a quick Cure from you or Donald has been a lifesaver out there.” Branwen smiled. “When we’re all watching each other’s backs, there’s nothing in the worlds that can take us down!”

“You said it!” Donald crowed. I couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment. It was times like these where I really felt on top of the world.

“Oh, look!” Minnie said, pointing at the Cornerstone of Light, which was beginning to light up with a very familiar glow.

“Guess it’s my turn again.” Sora chuckled, before summoning the Kingdom Key into his hand. Watching the crown shape of light bloom under his feet, I couldn’t help but idly wonder what Kairi’s would look like. What Naminé, Roxas, and Zion’s would look like.

Maybe we’d get to find out and see.

Not ten seconds later, the keyhole was unlocked, and the path to the next world was open.

“A protective barrier...wonder how the next world’s gonna tie into that?” Kairi wondered. I shrugged.

“Guess we’ll find out.” I said, before yawning. “In the morning, that is; I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted.”

“Hear hear.” Branwen agreed.

“Donald and Goofy can use their own rooms while I get the rest of you situated in your own. It’s the least we can do to thank you.” Minnie offered. Sora beamed at her.

“Thanks. We’ll take you up on that.”

“Well, if that’s all, I think I’ll be returning to Hollow Bastion.” Merlin spoke up. “Now, be sure to think wisely, and keep an open mind out there! You never know what more the worlds have to teach you.” the wizard added with a chuckle.

“Oh yeah! We need the gummi ship back!” Branwen yelped, and my blood ran cold.

“Ah, don’t worry, I took the liberty of bringing it back while you were gone.” Merlin reassured us, and I couldn’t help the sigh of relief even if I’d wanted to.

“That worried, huh?” Goofy asked. I nodded.

“I don’t ever want to be stranded again.” I stated firmly. That rather sobered the mood right there. And that reminded me; idiot me went and left the dang black coat at Yen Sid’s tower, so I couldn’t even use the Corridors without risk anymore. Could we go back to get it, though…? Or would Yen Sid have thrown it away?

“Hey guys?” I spoke up after a moment, getting everyone’s attention. “I left my black coat behind at Yen Sid’s tower. Think we could go pick that up real quick? Hopefully he still has it.” I added uneasily. “I don’t know if he would’ve kept it.”

“But you don’t need that anymore, Riku.” Goofy said. I shook my head.

“I-”

“We’ve got the gummi ship, don’t worry. I know you’re scared, but you’ve got all of us now. And we’re sticking together, you hear me?” Kairi told me, coming forward and squeezing me in a hug. I hugged her back just as tightly.

“Y-yeah, but-”

“No buts about it! I left mine behind in Yen Sid’s tower too, remember?” Wait, he did? “We don’t need to Corridor anymore, now that we’re back together with our friends. And we’re not leaving anyone behind!” Branwen declared, folding his arms. 

“I’m not-!” I retorted, before giving it up and groaning. “I’m not gonna win this, am I?” I said flatly as Kairi and I let go of each other. Everyone just snickered at me in response.

“Nope!” Donald chuckled. Aaaaah. Fine. Fine.

“I better not regret this.” I grumbled. The idea of leaving that protection behind unsettled me, but...it was true we’d all be using the gummi ship together. And, worst case scenario, if I did need to Corridor, I could risk using one okay. It would suck, but I could do it. So long as I didn’t make a habit of running through the dang things unprotected. I liked living, thank you.

“Aw c’mon, cheer up! We’ve got another world to poke around in for clues tomorrow.” Sora said, patting me on the back.

“Yeah, alright.” I conceded. “Let’s go get some sleep.”

~*~

I shivered, rubbing my hands up and down both arms, a sick and roiling feeling in my gut. There was darkness all around me, with only a single stone path visible to my eyes. Stone that was chilling to my bare feet. 

My bare feet? I looked down, surprised, to see that I didn’t actually have shoes. That wasn’t right, I’d had shoes here in the Realm of Darkness. Where were they?

Eerie, mocking laughter immediately drew my attention to a form stepping out of the dark. One I couldn’t possibly fail to recognize: Anti-Aqua. I froze, heart in my mouth, as I watched her stride toward me.

“Riku. The boy I wish I hadn't saved.” Aqua snarled bitterly, and what? “Here you are, safe in your bed, while I’m stuck here, suffering.”

“I didn’t- you weren’t there!” I protested. “I was looking, Aqua - you weren't there!”

“Oh, so sure of that, are you?” Aqua sneered, unmoved by my earnest pleas. “I was there. I saved you from a Demon Tower, and lost my chance at getting out of this place doing it.” 

“But- that didn’t happen! There was no Demon Tower, not this time!” I shouted, tears beginning to spill over onto my face. “I was looking, Aqua, waiting! I swear it, I wanted to get you-!”

“Out?” Aqua interrupted apathetically. “You sure didn’t look hard enough then, did you? You knew I was there. But you still left without me.”

“I…” I did. I had just gone with Mickey, making our way through the broken landscape until I’d somehow transitioned out of the place, into Castle Oblivion. I didn’t remember when or how that happened, but that was just the end of things. While we were still in the Realm of Darkness, I hadn’t branched out to search or anything. There was no way I could have without giving away that I knew about Aqua, but did that really excuse leaving her behind?

“No. It didn’t.” Aqua growled, snapping me out of my thoughts. Star Cluster materialized in her hand, her entire body language screaming violence. “And I’m going to make you pay for every extra minute of suffering you’ve condemned me to.”

Panicking, I raised my hand, only for a bolt of horror to strike through my body when Midnight Blue didn’t appear. Aqua charged, and I blasted at her with a Thundara - only, the magic didn’t come. Star Cluster struck me in the stomach, and I was sent flying back with a cry of pain to land on the sands of the Dark Margin.

I couldn’t- I couldn’t defend myself, not like this. I ran in a blind panic, just trying to get away from her. Away from the fallen Keyblade Master charging after me from behind, and my hopes picked up as I began feeling lighter and lighter, running faster and faster until the sand melted back into stone and I reached a door at the end of the narrow path. 

A hospital door - one that wouldn’t budge despite my desperate attempts to rip it open. 

More mocking laughter echoed from behind me, sounding almost gleeful this time. I whirled around, heart beating a mile a minute, to see Anti-Aqua walking toward me, lips quirked up in amusement and golden eyes gleaming. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” She asked, a smirk on her face as she gestured towards the ground. I looked, and then shrieked at the sight of blood, so much blood it seeped into the cracks, painting the stones red red red, lumps of flesh I knew were internal organs lying scattered within it down the path. Kidneys, liver, heart, pancreas, lungs...the sudden lightness made all too much horrifying sense now. And that, that intestine, it was. It was. Attached to me. Shaking, I looked down at my body-

And screamed.  

~*~

I woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. I curled up in on myself, putting pressure on my torso in a physical reminder that I was here, whole and in one piece. I even put a hand under my shirt and ran it over my death scar, proof that I was whole and closed and not gaping open. I was here, safe, alive; not cut open with my insides spilled out onto the ground.

That, that had been a bad one. I still had nightmares - about dying, and Hollow Bastion, being left as just a heart and soul in the Realm of Darkness, and all the ways things could have gone wrong in Castle Oblivion. Zexion, Ansem...I shuddered, banishing the memories from my mind.

It didn’t happen. I was, I was fine. My siblings were fine; Roxas, Naminé, and Zion were fine. We were getting them help. They’d, we’d be alright.

...Aqua wasn’t fine. I was crying, I realized, putting a hand to my tear-soaked cheeks.

It was true, I hadn’t tried to search for Aqua. Oh, I’d been on the lookout for her as Mickey and I made our way through the Realm of Darkness, but I hadn’t searched for her, not really. I clenched my hands into fists, gritting my teeth at the shame flooding my heart.

I should have done something then. Oh, I know I wasn’t supposed to know that there was anyone to find in there, that I couldn’t possibly have known about Aqua, but dangit, she was trapped in there! She’d already been there for a decade, could I really justify letting her suffer for even a moment longer when I could have done something?!  

Knocking on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. 

“Coming!” I shouted. I wiped my eyes, getting rid of all traces of having cried, before getting off the bed and opening the door.

“Oh good, you’re already awake.” Donald said happily, Sora standing next to him with his hands behind his head. Evidently I hadn’t been crying long enough to leave a lingering trace, because neither of them stopped to remark on it and my brother definitely would have. “The queen’s hosting breakfast in the dining hall, I’ll show you where it is.”

“Thanks, Donald.” I told him, a grateful smile on my face. I followed him through the halls of his home until we emerged in the dining hall, with Minnie, Chip, Dale, Jiminy, and Daisy already there. I frowned, before shrugging it off. Jiminy didn’t always have to stick with Sora, he’d probably had his own room. And even as I watched, I saw Goofy leading Kairi and Branwen in even now. They must’ve split up to get us then.

“Whoaaaaa. Thanks for this Queen Minnie!” Sora cheered, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

“Oh, you’re welcome! It’s the least we could do to thank you all.” Minnie assured him. 

“Yeah! You saved the castle! We wouldn’t have a home if you hadn’t helped us out!” Chip added. Goofy chuckled at that.

“Ah-hyuck, that’s right.”

We didn’t hesitate to dig in, and man, was home-cooked food the best. I savored the meal even as I scarfed down whatever was on my plate; something that would always stick with me from my Hollow Bastion days.

“This is really good. Thank you.” Kairi told Minnie, who flushed in embarrassment.

“You said it!” Donald cheered, before digging back in with gusto.

“How have you been since we saw you last, Jiminy?” Sora asked his friend. “I thought you were staying with Yen Sid before going back to Traverse Town to be with Geppetto and Pinocchio again?” Wait he what?! I mean, I’d just kind of assumed he was still in Sora’s pocket but how on this green earth did I NOT notice him leaving?? Was it when we were getting our new clothes? It would’ve had to have been, otherwise there’s no way I’d miss him telling Sora, Donald, and Goofy goodbye. 

“Well yes, that was the plan. But Yen Sid told me Chip and Dale needed my help with something, and so here I am.” The cricket explained. 

“What kind of something?” I asked curiously. 

“I can’t tell you just yet; it's a surprise.” Jiminy replied. 

“Huh. Alright.” I said, very much confused as to why this was happening. Had Jiminy weighed up continuing to travel with us versus going home to his friends and made a different decision than he had in canon on his own, like Aqua had in the Realm of Darkness? Which meant Chip and Dale would have had the opportunity to ask him for help with whatever it was they were doing, since Jiminy wasn’t traveling with us like he otherwise would have been…huh. 

The rest of our meal was passed with lighthearted conversation, until several hours had gone by without our notice. Donald was the first to notice the time, and the rest of us were made aware as soon as the drake started screaming. 

“WAWAWAWAWA!! We stayed too long!”

“What, you can’t take the time to be with friends?” Daisy huffed. Donald scowled.

“You know what I mean!” he protested.

“Donald’s right. We’ve still got people we need to help.” Goofy added.

“Haaaa. I don’t like it, but I know you’ve gotta go out and save the world.” Daisy sighed, before pointing a finger in Donald’s face. “Just- just make sure you get back to me in one piece, you hear?!”

“Of course I will!” Donald said, even as memories of a time where a desperate Zettaflare cost Donald his life flashed across my mind.

“We’ll make sure of it.” I agreed. I wasn’t losing any more people. I don’t care if it was arrogant of me to assume I could pull that off, just like that. I don’t care.

This is Square Enix but it’s Disney too. I was getting us all through the end of Kingdom Hearts Three, no exceptions. None. 

Sora. Kairi. Branwen. Donald. Goofy. Mickey. Naminé. Roxas. Zion. Lea. Aqua. Terra. Ven. All of us were coming home alive. All of us, myself included. No one was going to be dying in that graveyard. Not a single one of us. Not this time. 

“Take care of yourselves out there.” Minnie told us, snapping me back out of my thoughts.

“We will.” Kairi promised.

“Merlin put the gummi ship back in the docks!” Dale piped up, much to my relief. 

“Thanks!” I told him gratefully, glad to know where it was at last. Even if it seemed like the obvious place to put it, well, that didn’t always mean that it would be where it was put. 

“Right, let’s go then. Goofy’s driving - I gotta teach you guys Cura and Aerora, now that you’ve got second-level spells down.” Donald said, and I couldn’t help the beaming grin that split my face even if I tried.

And with that, we excused ourselves from the dining hall, making our way back to where our gummi ship was parked and waiting for us. 

~*~

As we disembarked from the gummi ship on the newly accessible world, we found ourselves outside of what looked like some sort of fortified town, made of old stone brick and mortar.

“Huh. Are we at some sort of fort?” I wondered.

“Maybe. Or it could be a really old castle. Come on, let’s look around.” Sora said, leading the way. The entrances inside were closed off with barred doors, and not the prison kind. I mean like the fortified, protective kind.

A drawn out, ear-piercing shriek immediately caught our attention.

“Jeez, it sounds like we’re hearing a murder over there.” I winced. That shriek was soon joined by at least a dozen other screams, though none as loud as the first had been.

“Something’s going on! Let’s go!” Kairi said, leading the charge in the direction of the screams. Reaching the end of the rampart, we leaned over to see a commotion going on in the city just beyond us, with people running every which way in clear panic.

“Come on!” Goofy said, racing for the stairs. We were quick to follow, racing to stop the nearest person to us.

“Wait, please! What’s going on?” Branwen asked. The woman just gave us a quick, wild-eyed look. 

“I-in the docks! Go! Run for it!” she yelled, before taking off to parts unknown.

“Guess we’re heading for the docks.” Donald said grimly. It didn’t take us long to find them either, what with the sea being in clear view of the town. And standing right there-

“The pirate zombies?” I complained, and it was only when everyone shot me weird looks that I realized my mistake.

“What are you talking about? They look like just regular guys.” Sora asked.

Friiiiiiick. Frick frick frick frick-

“I-I- d-didn’t you see that? I mean they don’t look like it now but I swear they were walking skeletons and crap!” I stammered out. Thank you fickle moonlight curse for saving my idiot hide!

“Whaaaat?” Donald yelped.

“See there? I knew it!” Pete yelled, having now noticed our group standing at the archway that marked the entrance to the docks. “Those are the punks I was tellin’ ya about.”

“Who are you callin’ punks?!” Sora demanded.

“Big talk for a man we’ve beaten the living daylights out of every time we’ve fought.” Kairi snarled, and you said it sister!

“Ooooh, the little lass has some fire in her belly.” One of the pirates, the leader, that dude who was called Bar-something or other - I hadn’t seen the first Pirates of the Carribean movie in way the heck too long, and that was before I died - said. I’mma call this piece of human trash Barbie. “May I get your name?” 

“Kairi. Donald and Goofy here are my friends, and Sora, Branwen, and Riku are my siblings in all but blood.” Kairi replied tersely.

“I see. I’ll make sure their names are properly engraved on their tombstones.” the man leered, and oh, you did not.  

“Whoa! I like y-”

“You piece of- Fira!” Kairi yelled, a snarl evident in her voice, cutting Pete off and sending a blast of flame at the offending pirate zombies. They yelled in shock, scattering and screaming something about witchcraft, and we took that as our cue to fight.

“The medallion! The medallion! Half of you deal with these cullies-” Whatever that meant. “-and the rest, bring me that medallion!” Barbie snarled over Pete’s repeated shouts of ‘See! See!’ 

“Aye!”

“AAAAH!” The men chorused - the last bit from the one currently on fire.

“I told you before, stay away from their magic!” Pete half-wailed as the group of pirates split in half - the man on fire first running to take a dive off the docks, before hurriedly joining the away group. Gee, I wonder why?

“Ha! Thanks for the tip, Pete!” Sora taunted. 

“Firaga!” Donald shouted, nailing a group of three with the same fire blast. Pete just yelped and scampered off somewhere, I didn’t care where since I was in the middle of a fight right now.

“Fools! We cannot die!” one of the scorched men spat, moonlight peeking through the clouds to reveal their true selves for just a few moments before vanishing behind the cloud cover again. But that was enough.

“So they are zombies!” Branwen shouted in dismay. The pirates just laughed.

“You’d best be sayin’ your prayers.” One of the as of yet unscorched ones jeered, waving a dirtied butcher’s knife at us threateningly. I narrowed my eyes in a scowl.

“No. You can’t die, but you can be stopped.” I said coldly. “Dark Blizzara!”

The pirates quickly went from smug to panicked once they saw their comrade coated in a thick layer of black ice, hindering his movements.

“Wh-what is this-?!”

“Great idea! Aeroga!” Donald cheered, hitting another pirate and sending him flying off into the middle distance to land in the water some ways from the docks with a rather impressive splash.

“Freeze them solid, they can't attack us then! Blizzara!” Kairi shouted, putting enough power in her spell to straight up freeze the man in front of her solid. Given his occupation and behavior I didn’t feel sorry for him. He was getting off lightly.

The battle turned in our favor then, going from a true fight to a bizarre game of freeze tag. Emphasis on the freeze. By the time the last man had fled we had about five pirate ice cubes left in the field.

“So, uh...any idea what we’re gonna do with them?” Sora asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “We can’t just leave them here.”

“Hmm…” Goofy mused, before Branwen’s eyes lit up.

“Dump ‘em in the water!” he crowed.

“Wait, what?” Donald asked, a little startled.

“They’re zombie skeleton things, they can’t drown! This’ll keep them away from the town and give them a bit of time to, ahem, cool off.” my twin smirked. 

“Hahahah, nice one.” Donald snickered, before rubbing his hands together. “Welp, no time like the present. Let’s make them walk the plank!”

“More like just push them overboard.” Kairi chuckled.

“But guys, how are we gonna make ‘em float out to sea?” Goofy pointed out. We just kinda looked at each other, realizing we didn’t really have an answer to that.

“Um...use an Aeroga to push them away?” Donald suggested.

I shrugged. “Should work. If we’re careful that is.” I shoved my pirate ice cube off the docks, and then took aim at the water a ways in front of him. “Aerora!”

The force of the air hitting the water created a nice wave, easily sweeping the pirate ice cube further from the docks, where he naturally started drifting from the bay. One by one, we sent the rest of the frozen pirates off into the ocean. They’d be fine. They couldn’t die, and if they were focused on finding their way back to Barbie when they unfroze then that was one less murderer intent on our heads.

“Right. That’s them taken care of.” I said, clapping imaginary dust from my hands. “We’d better hurry after the others - whatever they want that medallion for, it can’t be good.”

“Right behind you!” Kairi agreed, and we turned and made our way into the town as one. We may not have had any idea where the pirates had gone off to, but honestly, the zombies weren’t subtle. Following the trail of fleeing people, we finally made our way into an alley where Heartless were surrounding none other than Will Turner.

“Look out!” Goofy called, quickly placing himself between a lunging Heartless and Will, leaving the unfortunate monster to bounce rather painfully off his shield. The rest of us were quick to join him in routing the surrounding Heartless.

“Th-thanks! What are these things?” Will asked, hacking at them with his sword.

“They’re called the Heartless.” Sora explained as he sent one of the Heartless in question flying with an Aerora into the brick wall, where it proceeded to hit the ground and poof into dark smoke.

“Right nasty things they are.” Will commented, cutting through two at once with his blade. He definitely knew how to use it, which only made sense in a world like this.

Once the remaining Heartless were taken care of, we were free to move on to more pressing things - like introductions.

“Thank you for the assistance. My name is Will Turner, might I get yours?” he asked, sheathing his blade. The rest of us followed in his example, dematerializing our weapons, which got a wide-eyed look of surprise from him. Riiiight…

Will shook it off quickly though, which was nice. He probably had bigger priorities to focus on anyway, like Elizabeth.

“I’m Riku, and these are my friends Donald and Goofy, my twin brother, Branwen, and my adopted siblings Sora and Kairi.” I said, introducing my friends and family in turn. Will nodded in understanding.

“I was chasing after those pirates, they took Elizabeth, the governor’s daughter. We’ve got to hurry if we want to catch them before they leave port.” Will explained grimly, turning and charging off back to where we’d come from, the rest of us on his heels.

“We just came from there!” Branwen complained. “I didn’t see any pirate ships docked there!”

“There were several cargo ships; I’m willing to bet it was one of them.” I suggested. “They’d be stupid to keep their flag up while their ship was missing most of its crew. It’d be like asking for an ambush to be waiting for them when they got back, or worse, for their ship to be destroyed.”

“Exactly that. Pirates are scum but they’re not stupid.” Will agreed.

“Hey, pirates aren’t scum!” Sora protested, only to get a withering look from our companion. “I mean, these guys are, but not all of them are bad!” my little brother was quick to add.

“If there has ever been a decent pirate, which I highly doubt, I have yet to meet them.” Will retorted scathingly. “Ah, here we a- no! We’re too late!” Will cried, watching the pirate ship sailing off into the distance as we skidded to a stop at the end of the docks.

Hilariously, they seemed to be stopping to pick up the frozen pirate ice cubes we’d dumped into the ocean prior. I’d hoped to put them out of commission for longer than that, but oh well.

“I’m guessing Elizabeth was on their ship.” Donald scowled.

“Yes. But now that they’ve sailed, I’ll never be able to find miss Swann!” Will moaned.

“Then she’s long gone.” A voice that was impossible not to recognize spoke up from behind us. “The Black Pearl is nigh uncatchable.”

Captain Jack Sparrow. I quickly quashed the happy grin that had started to spread across my face at the sight of the man standing at the end of a boarding ramp to another ship. Cool as he was, this was still Jack Sparrow. Not an enemy, but not an ally either. Not yet.

“Best find yourself another girl, mate.” Jack finished dismissively.

“You. What are you doing aboard the Interceptor?” Will asked incredulously as we approached the ship. “She’s off limits to civilians.”

“I don’t think he’s just another civilian.” I couldn’t help but interject. Jack’s eyes lit up in smug delight.

“That’s right, boy. Fortunately for me, she seems to be rather empty at the moment. I’m going to be commandeering her - she’ll make a fine pirate ship.”

“A pirate?” Sora asked excitedly as we stopped at the boarding ramp. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his enthusiasm, slowly shaking my head.

“Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please.” the man introduced himself. If anything, my little brother got even more starry-eyed at hearing he was in the presence of a pirate captain.

Heheh. Some things never changed.

“Take me with you. Help me hunt down the Black Pearl and save Miss Swann.” Will begged, before averting his eyes from the pirate. “I got you out of that jail cell, Sparrow. Do this and your debt’s repaid.”

“You’ll have to win fair lady’s heart alone, mate.” Jack disagreed. “I see no profit in it for me.”

“C’mon Captain!” Sora protested.

“You’ll need a crew. You can’t sail a ship all on your own.” Kairi pointed out. Jack just raised an eyebrow at her.

“And you’re so sure you can help me?” he asked.

“We were born and raised on the islands. Trust me, we know how to work a boat.” Branwen said, and while he might not’ve grown up on Destiny Islands with the rest of us he sure knew how to work a boat. We all did.

Problem is, that was modern boats. Not pirate ships. Then again, we also made and sailed sail-powered rafts by hand, so. Between the two there’s quite a bit of crossover, and whatever we don’t know we can learn.

“Hmm, very well. I suppose you have a point.” Jack conceded. Sora pumped his fist into the air excitedly before practically racing up the ramp, making me laugh as the rest of us followed at a more sedate pace.

“Thanks, Sparrow.” Will said as he climbed aboard.

“Captain Sparrow.” Jack insisted.

“I’m Sora. Donald and Goofy here are my friends, and Kairi, Branwen, and Riku are my siblings in all but blood.” Sora introduced us happily, echoing the same greeting I’d given Will.

“I’m Will Turner.” Will added.

“That would be short for William, I’d imagine.” Jack commented. “No doubt named for your father, eh?”

“Yes.” Will nodded.

“Well then, Mr. Turner. You get us ready to make way. I’ve got some effects to liberate.” Jack instructed.

“Aye-aye! But hurry!” Will told him, clearly anxious to get moving. Jack just threw up a hand lackadaisically, not even bothering to turn around.

“Naturally.”

“You really wanna be a pirate, Sora?” Goofy asked my brother curiously as we disembarked. There was still the Heartless to worry about, after all.

“Ever since he was little!” Kairi laughed.

“Hey!” Sora protested, flushing heatedly. “I-I don’t! Not really!”

Jack turned to face us, before asking Sora quietly, “What do you make of this Will?”

“I don’t know. We just met him.” Sora explained. Jack hummed, standing up straight again before giving Will an appraising look.

“Hmm, I think my luck’s about to change.” he commented to himself happily. Right, because his crew had mutinied and his ship had been stolen. Getting a new ship and crew right off the bat, even one as small as we were, was definitely more than he’d been expecting, I’d bet.

“Hey! I know you’re probably worried about Heartless, but there don’t seem to be any around right now. And you can repel them just as easily on the ship as you can down there!” Will shouted down to us. “So come help me with this already!”

“Alright. But you’ll have to tell us what to do! Unlike these guys, Goofy and I haven’t been raised around ships!” Donald grumbled. Will just laughed in response.

“That’s alright. Now, whichever of you is most comfortable with heights, climb up there and unfurl the sails. Whoever is the strongest, get over by the anchor, you’ll be pulling that up as soon as Jack arrives…”

~*~

Once Jack had gotten back, we’d immediately set sail for the Isle de Muerta. Island of the Dead, from what little bits and phrases of Spanish I could remember, from high school classes taken sixteen years ago. Interesting how vestiges of foreign languages remained like this, even though there was only one language used in this universe: English, and no other.

Aside from the attack by shark, torpedo, and submarine-themed aquatic Heartless every few minutes, which were rather easily dealt with by way of ranged magic, the trip was proving to be largely peaceful so far.

In fact, it was peaceful enough that I could finally, finally take the opportunity to talk to Branwen about my situation without risk of others overhearing.

“Hey guys, I’mma head down below deck with Branwen for a minute. There’s something we need to talk about.” I explained.

“Huh? Oh!” Sora said, eyes widening as he realized what I was talking about. “Do you want us there with you?”

“You guys are needed to defend the ship. It shouldn’t take long.” I demurred.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Kairi said reluctantly. Branwen stepped away from the side of the ship, a curious look on his face as I opened the door and went dow the stairs, Branwen right behind me.

“So, what’s all this about?” he asked as I made my way into the farthest room from the doors, at the very front of the ship. Thank heavens I didn’t get seasick in this new life, thanks to living on the islands. That would seriously suck otherwise.

No, seriously. I’ve been seasick before. It sucks.

“A secret I’ve shared with my family, and only my family.” I explained. “And that family includes you. It wouldn’t be right to keep this from you, not when the others know. I just couldn’t find a way to tell you before, what with DiZ bugging the mansion to heck and back, and without Donald and Goofy overhearing until now.” I explained, before scowling. “And like heck I was sharing something like this with DiZ.”

“Well yeah.” Branwen nodded fervently, understanding just as well as I that there was something terribly not right with the man. Especially with his ruthless insistence that Nobodies weren’t real - and for that matter, that he, Sora, and I had been the only ‘real’ beings in the building, at least until the Twilight Town gang had shown up.

Yeah, no. I hadn’t let that last. It had involved the verbal and informational equivalent of hitting him over the head with a chair, multiple times, but I’d finally gotten him to get his head on straight. It helped that his own machinery could confirm the truth of my words over time.

“Alright, so.” I took a deep breath, steeling my nerves. Branwen deserved to know. I wanted him to know. But jeez, did that not make this any less stressful. “So. Don’t interrupt me till I’m done, okay? It’s gonna be a lot to take in.”

“Uhh, okay.” Branwen agreed, though not without trepidation. Understandably.

“Right. So first of all, this isn’t my first life.” I said, immediately holding up a hand to forestall the outburst that had been about to pour out of Branwen’s open mouth. “Ah. Wait til I’m done. My original name was...was Morgan Hawthorne.” I said, my voice dropping to a low volume as I shared with him my old name. 

“I lived on another world, in an entirely different universe. Where light and darkness were no more important than flipping on and off a light switch, magic never existed, and my world, Earth, was the only one with life in all the vastness of space.” At least that we knew of. But I didn’t want to get into the technicalities of it all, and as far as I would ever know, we were. And it was important with emphasizing just how different our realities were. “Trust me, the fundamental laws of reality are completely different there. I would know.”

I shook my head. “Anyway, I lived in Utah, which was a mountainous desert, until I was seventeen. That’s when I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but it was caught early enough that it hadn’t had the time to spread beyond my pancreas. I was given chemotherapy to make the tumor smaller, and once it was small enough I was going in for surgery to have it removed, and if all went well, the cancer with it.”

“I had a 44% chance of making it through the next five years, but if I did pull through I’d be cancer-free. And so into surgery I went.” I said, bitterness seeping into my voice. “Well, obviously something went wrong, or I wouldn’t be here. And I’ll never know what it was, because I was dead at the time.”

I took hold of the zipper of my shirt, and for the first time, I unzipped it to unveil the entirety of the scar. Branwen had seen the whole thing through my memories of seeing it in my reflection, as well as seeing it on me as a wolf, but now, now, he was going to learn just why it was there.

“This is an autopsy scar. I guess since they did it before I was buried, it carried over or something. I don’t know.” I told him, zipping my shirt back up again with a feeling of relief. I hated having the thing out on display. “But it’s a remnant of what killed me. A reminder on my skin.”

“Sora noticed even as a four year old that something wasn’t right with me. He, and then later Kairi, helped me piece myself back together again. To come to terms with what happened. That it was okay that I was alive again, to be happy with friends and family and not feel like I was betraying the memory of what I lost. I owe them everything.” I said fervently, before giving my twin an appraising look. 

“I don’t know how much of this you’re able to piece together, since you don’t have the memories of my first life, and that includes when they’ve bled over into my second. Which is why you have all the holes.” I explained, before wincing. “Best I can figure is that since unlike here, there isn’t any equivalent of the heart back on Earth, so a complete being in my reality was just body and soul, nothing more. So up until I was reborn here, all of my memories would’ve been stored in my soul, not my heart. Still connected, but not there. Which is why Naminé couldn’t find them.”

Branwen just stared at me, utterly silent. I waited in tense apprehension for him to do something, say something, anything.

“B-Branwen?” I asked hesitantly. He let out an explosive sigh, shaking his head, before giving me his full attention.

“Holy crap, man, that’s all...everything just makes so much sense now.” Branwen breathed, shock and incredulity ringing clear in his voice. “That’s where those phrases come from, don’t they - ‘nuggets’, ‘heaven knows’, all the varieties of ‘what on earth’ and even weirder things like ‘when in Rome’, ‘go pound sand’, ‘yeet’, and ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ I mean.” Branwen’s eyes widened as something else dawned on him. “And the mirror! Your hair was brown before, wasn’t it?!

I laughed. I couldn’t help it - here I’d told him I’d died and been reborn, across universes even, and his first question was if my use of the word ‘nuggets’ was something I’d carried over from Earth?

Branwen burst out laughing as well, recognizing the absurdity of the situation, and we just kind of sat there for a while, laughing and laughing in hysteria and relief until we’d both gotten it all out of our systems.

“Y-yeah. Yeah.” I said, once I’d gotten myself mostly back under control. “My hair used to be brown. And I had blue eyes, not teal. As for the phrases...well, they’re just something I’ve always said. I never saw a reason to stop, really.” I admitted, shrugging.

“So we’ve unintentionally introduced phrases from outside of this universe to Twilight Town, where they then proceeded to spread like wildfire.” Branwen said, snorting, before bursting out laughing again. “Th-that’s hilarious!”

I couldn’t help but let out a laugh myself. He wasn’t wrong, not at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a new trend among the teenage and young adult population of Twilight Town given how these things tend to go.

Whoooops. Oh well.

“So you believe me?” I asked my brother, with a relieved grin on my face. Branwen just snorted and nodded in response.

“Are you kidding? Nothing else explains you!” Branwen told me, before cackling again. “Seriously, you coming from another world - universe, even! - makes things make so much more sense in hindsight. Including the memories.” Branwen said, sobering. “But I’m glad. I’m just...I know it sucked, and I know you’d much rather it never happened-” I sucked in a breath, feeling like I’d just been socked in the gut, because I...I honestly didn’t know if I would. If given the chance, would I really trade the friends and family I’d made here for the ones I’d had before? “-but as horrible as it sounds I’m really, really glad it did, you know?” 

Unshed tears were shining in Branwen’s eyes. “I mean, not only would I not exist, but...you’ve been amazing to me, you know? You could’ve rejected me, told me I was a fake, a clone, that I wasn’t real. That I shouldn’t exist, like DiZ thought, and all the Nobodies in Castle Oblivion thought, but you didn’t. You never did. You welcomed me into your family and your heart from the very beginning, e-even though I was just some clo-”

“You were never ‘just some clone.’” I told him firmly, looking my brother directly in the eyes.

Branwen laughed. “See? You saw it from the very start! That Naminé, Zion, Roxas, and I, we were real. If you weren’t here, do you really think this would’ve happened? Even without me, do you really think everyone would’ve realized the truth about them? Especially with DiZ spewing his lies?” Branwen spat. Yeah, he and the man didn’t get along. Gee, I wonder why? 

But, as for his question… 

“...No.” I knew it wouldn't have happened, without me. Not like this. They would’ve learned the truth, but…

It would’ve been a truth learned almost too late.

“So, Riku...whatever force brought you here...I’m glad it did. We need you - I need you. I, I just...I can’t imagine not having you in my life.” Branwen admitted, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve.

I wiped the tears from my own eyes, before standing and stepping forward to catch my startled twin in a hug.

“I know.” I told him, holding him tight. “I know, because I treasure each and every one of you. I don’t- I don’t know if I’d trade this life for the one I had before, because...all the friends and family I’ve ever had are precious to me. And after, after everything, I don’t want to lose any of you.” I’d already lost enough. And I knew - oh, how I knew - that I couldn’t save everyone, but…

That didn’t stop me from trying, dangit.

These weren’t characters in a story. They hadn’t been, not for more than a decade and a half. They were people; flesh and blood people, with their own likes and dislikes and struggles and triumphs. They were my friends and my family and I loved them. 

And you could bet I’d be doing everything in my power to make sure we came out of things in one piece. I wasn’t arrogant enough to even think I could cherry-pick the consequences of my actions, that everything would come out just the way I wanted them to. I wasn’t a god, not even close. I was only human. I wasn’t perfect - I made mistakes. Clearly. 

But dangit, that wouldn’t stop me from doing all I possibly could. That would never change.

Branwen and I just hugged each other, expressing with physical touch what we couldn’t with words, until eventually, on some unspoken signal, we both knew to let go.

“So. Now you know.” I said, wiping the last of the tears from my eyes.

“Yeah. Were you- were you just planning on waiting for the chance t-to tell me, or…?” Branwen asked, and I shook my head in answer.

“No, if I couldn’t get an opportunity to tell you in this world I was going to make one.” I told him honestly. “You’re my brother, Branwen. You deserve to know just as much as Sora and Kairi do.”

“Heheh. Thanks, Riku. I mean it.” Branwen told me with a chuckle, a small, watery smile on his face.

“You’re welcome.” I told Branwen, a smile of my own on my face. “We can talk about the details of my old life when we’re back home; Sora and Kairi sure had their fair share of questions. But for now, we’ve gotta get back to the others before they get suspicious. It’s already bad enough that it looks like we’ve been crying.” I said. Branwen giggled.

“That’s because we have been crying.” he sniggered, before leading the way back up to the deck. 

Chapter Text

Everyone gave Branwen and I concerned looks when we came out from below, since yes, we very much had been crying, but I gave Sora and Kairi a thumbs-up and a smile and they knew it was all good.

“Gawrsh, are you two okay?” Goofy asked, concerned. I gave him a smile before nodding.

“Yeah, we’re alright, don’t worry.” I reassured him. Because we really were - and the weight I’d been carrying in my chest since I’d left Castle Oblivion was finally, finally gone.

Branwen knew. He knew and he was okay with it - more than okay with it, really. He knew, and didn’t reject me for it.

You can’t imagine how much of a relief that was.

It wasn’t much longer before we reached the island of the dead. Both Will and Jack wasted no time in jumping ashore, and the rest of us were quick to follow.

“Wait, what are you doing? Stay on the ship!” Will protested.

“Um, what? We’re not just gonna sit here while Elizabeth needs help!” Branwen protested. Will frantically shook his head.

“This is a rescue mission, not an assault! The idea is to sneak in and out of there, not barge in swords drawn!” Will pointed out. “And you’re just kids, you shouldn’t be involved in this.”

“Well we are. And we’re a lot more capable than you think.” Kairi pointed out crossly, and considering we’d just spent the entire trip here blasting Heartless into oblivion he really should know that.

“Guys, I think Will’s got a point. But you shouldn’t just be going in a group of two; at least take one of us with you.” Sora suggested. Will pinched the bridge of his nose, looking like he very much wanted to protest, but knew we were right.

“Fine. Fine. Sora, come with us. You stand out the least out of all of you.” Will relented.

“Alright! Let’s get going.” Sora said, before turning to us. “Make sure the ship’s still in one piece when we get back, okay?”

“What do you take us for, Sora?” Donald griped. “We’ll be fine!”

Sora gave us a wave, before disappearing into the cave with Will and Jack. We all got back on the boat, keeping an eye out for any attackers while we waited.

“So, you okay with things, Branwen?” Kairi asked, wanting to get a more in-depth answer than ‘it went okay’.

“More than okay. I’m just glad to know.” Branwen reassured her.

“Know what Branwen?” Goofy asked.

“Something personal. It’s a family matter.” I explained quickly. Donand and Goofy exchanged a look, before collectively shrugging. Whew.

To be honest, sitting here waiting on the boat was incredibly boring. And nerve-wracking, knowing my brother was walking into very real danger and I couldn’t be there to watch his back.

Sheesh, if this was even a fraction of how Kairi felt in canon I commend her for not immediately decking Sora and Riku when she was reunited with them again in Kingdom Hearts Two. This was a special kind of agony.

Eventually, we heard the sound of running feet, and all perked back up into full alertness as Sora, Will, and Elizabeth came pelting out of the caves - but where was Jack?!

“Where’s-?” Donald started, only to be cut off by Sora.

“Will knocked him out - we have to go back for him, they’re right behind us but I can’t carry him out on my own!” Sora explained in a clear panic. Sure enough, there were a bunch of angry pirates charging toward the cavern entrance, plus Heartless. Wonderful.

“We don’t have time!” Will protested, to which Sora shot him a scathing glare before snapping back,

“It’s your fault he’s in this mess!”

“Guys! They’re coming!” Kairi shouted, alarmed.

“Go! Go!” Will shouted, practically shoving Elizabeth and Sora up the boarding ramp. As Kairi stepped up to the edge of the boat, Will shoved her back, knocking her onto her butt.

“Hey-!” Branwen protested as Will kicked the ramp down.

“We can’t possibly push through that many pirates and Heartless! I’m sorry, but we can’t go back for him.” Will said, not sounding very sorry at all as he made a mad dash for the wheel. “Now keep them from boarding us while we cast off!”

I was pissed. What had Will even been thinking, knocking Jack out and then leaving him there?! Barbie hated his guts! He’d kill him!

But, Will was right. As infuriated as I was about it, we couldn’t fight through the entirety of Jack’s former crew plus a horde of Heartless to get to him. I channeled my frustration through blasting pirates back with magic until the Interceptor began to move, only stopping when we were too far from shore for the pirates to catch us.

I dematerialized my keyblade, giving Will a glare that could split rock. Sora did one better, walking up to Will before decking him in the face as hard as he could.

“Will!”

“You left him behind!” Sora roared, ignoring Elizabeth rushing to grab the wheel and keep it still. “I get that you didn’t trust whatever his plan was, but you left him unconscious in a cave full of murderous pirates! He’s as good as dead because of you!”

“What?!” 

“You did?!” My friends and family shouted, clearly aghast.

“Gawrsh, I think you better explain what went on in there.” Goofy said sternly. Will looked uneasy as he took hold of the wheel from Elizabeth, but nodded.

“Thank you.” he told her, before turning to us. “The pirates were using miss Swann for some sort of blood ritual. Jack wanted to wait for the ‘opportune moment’-” Will explained, practically snarling the last two words. “-but I wasn’t going to risk her life waiting, not for when it benefited that pirate most. I knocked him out to keep him from giving us away before getting miss Swann and getting out of there.” Will finished.

“You didn’t even know what his plan was!” Sora pointed out. Will just scowled.

“He very obviously wasn’t planning on telling us, Sora! He just expected us to sit there and wait while he sauntered out into the open to do who knows what!”

“Both of you, enough!” Elizabeth shouted, startling all of us. “What’s done is done. We can’t go back for your friend, and I’m sorry.” she told Sora, genuinely apologetic. “But-”

“Look, what you need to understand is that Jack’s no fairy tale pirate like the kind you read about in storybooks.” Will spoke up, cutting Elizabeth off. “The real ones can’t be trusted. They’re crooks, thieves, liars, and murderers. Jack is no different.”

I mean, he...wasn’t wrong. But…

“That doesn’t mean you should have left him at the mercy of the others. If anything, he was doing you a favor getting you here.” I reminded him.

“And he repaid the debt he owed me by doing that. It’s the only reason he did it at all; pirates are inherently selfish. They don’t do anything unless it benefits them, no matter the cost to other people.” Will insisted.

There was a mutinous silence to his words; none of us liked it, but we didn’t have a decent argument against it either. Will looked at us before sighing heavily.

“But enough about that. Can one of you take the wheel? Miss Swann and I need to have a talk.” he asked.

“I can.” My siblings and I chorused, before looking at each other and giggling.

“I’ll take the wheel.” Kairi offered, and Will nodded.

“Thanks. Just keep us going steady, we shouldn’t be gone for long.” Will said, before he and Elizabeth took their turn to head below deck. I wasn’t sure what they were going to be talking about - well, I mean I knew they were going to be talking about the whole taking Will’s name thing, and the fact that his dad was a pirate, so...huh, I guess I did know what they were talking about.

“Doh...I wish there was somethin’ we could have done for Captain Jack.” Goofy said to break the silence, looking dejected.

“Think we could go back for him?” Branwen suggested, only for Sora to shoot it down.

“Either they’re holding him prisoner on their boat or in that cave, and since they’re after us I don’t think they’ll be in the cave anymore.” Sora pointed out, before sighing. “And attacking them on the ship holds the same problem that fighting them all off on the island did. We’re good, but taking on hordes of Heartless is different from taking on one backed by a massive group like that. Especially one that can’t be defeated.”

“We did okay with half of them, but that’s because we had the element of surprise on our side. They didn’t know what we could do.” I mused. “And they can be defeated, just not...permanently, I guess. But even then, they won’t stop until they either get their hands on Elizabeth’s medallion or they die trying. And since they can’t die…” I trailed off grimly, not needing to finish my sentence. We all knew the answer.

“...What can we do, then?” Kairi asked from her position at the wheel. We all just looked at each other helplessly. What could we do? In short, the answer was nothing. Not unless we removed their curse first, which...yeah.

“Elizabeth’s dad is the governor, right? I’m sure he’d be able to do something.” Sora suggested. I nodded.

“He’d certainly have the manpower to lock these guys up.” I agreed. Hopefully we could deal with the pirates in the same way as canon, but if not then this made for a great Plan B.

I still didn’t...I didn’t want to kill anyone. Branwen had killed Zexion, and I- 

I’d killed Ansem. I had nightmares about it; nightmares about killing him, and...not killing him. What would’ve happened. It was just a mess.

No more than my nightmares about everything else I guess. Ngh.

“Guys, look!” Donald shouted, breaking me out of my thoughts. He ran over to the side of the ship, the rest of us following, to point out none other than the Black Pearl sailing straight for us.

“Well, nuggets.”

“I’ll get Will and Elizabeth.” Branwen agreed, turning and dashing for the stairs leading belowdecks. The rest of us didn’t waste any time, getting ready to fight while Kairi remained at the wheel. Hopefully we could outrun them - the Interceptor was a pirate hunting vessel, right? Stands to reason that we should be able to.

Then again, that was the Black Pearl over there…wasn’t there something about it being Davy Jones’s ship? I don’t know, I barely remember that sequel as it is. 

The whole jar of dirt thing was as hilarious as it was unforgettable, though. I sincerely hope Jack did that again in Kingdom Hearts Three, I couldn’t remember if he did or not. 

“What now?” Donald asked as Will, Elizabeth, and Branwen burst onto the deck.

“Branwen says we’re being chased?” Will asked, before looking out himself. “Oh no.”

“I wonder what Jack would do…” Sora muttered, with a pointed glance at Will.

“Riku, swat Sora for me, I can’t reach from over here.” Kairi said irritatedly, and I duly swatted Sora upside the head. “Thank you.”

“No, he’s right. Pirates are used to battle at open sea; we are not.” Will defended Sora, before sighing. When it looked like he wasn’t actually planning on saying anything else, I spoke up.

“Okay, so obviously we’re not just gonna let them board us. We’ve seen them working with Heartless before back at the island of the dead, so it’s not just the pirates we have to worry about.”

“Yeah, but at least Heartless can be killed.” Sora pointed out.

“Back at the boarding issue; do you think we could just blow them off with wind magic?” Donald asked. “If they tried to come over we could just knock them off!”

“The Interceptor was built to catch pirates. With the wind backing the both of us, the Black Pearl couldn’t possibly hope to-”

Will was interrupted by a terrible crashing sound as the boat heaved under our feet, knocking us all onto the ground.

“Wh-what was-?” Another terrible scraping sound accompanied the ship shaking a second time, knocking those who had tried to pick themselves back up again, myself among them, back to the ground.

“I-I think I might’ve hit a rock!” Kairi shouted, her voice wavering and unsteady.

“The waters can be treacherous, especially at night.” Will said grimly, before turning to face the Black Pearl. “What were you saying about wind magic? Because that sounds like a good plan to me if we can’t blow them out of the water first!” 

What we’d forgotten was that Will had had the time to get used to magic and ‘witchcraft’ on the trip to the island; Elizabeth, on the other hand, hadn’t.

“What?! Oh, that, that’s right, you...back at the island. I never would have thought magic was anything more than fairy tales.” she breathed. We all exchanged sheepish looks. Canon pretty much glossed over, if not outright ignored entirely, the implications of Sora, Donald, and Goofy running around and throwing magic in worlds that believed it didn’t exist, but here? This was real life, which meant we definitely had to deal with the consequences of this.

Well, better that than dead people and a fallen world.

“Kairi! Can you still turn the ship?” Will asked.

“I-I’ll try!” Kairi replied, spinning the wheel like a madwoman. With a creaking groan, the Interceptor turned to face the Black Pearl head on. “W-wait, are you asking me to steer while we shoot cannonballs at the pirates?!” she shrieked, the implications of Will’s instructions dawning on her.

“You’ve sailed before, haven’t you?” Will asked. Kairi flushed.

“Well, yes, but-”

“Then that’s better than me! Everyone else, to the canons! Kairi, I leave the Interceptor in your capable hands!” Will shouted, and we all scattered. 

“There’s not enough canons, I’ll shoot ‘em with magic!” Donald pointed out, his staff at the ready. 

“I’ll help!” Sora said, running over to Donald. “Elizabeth, you don’t have magic, you use the canon!”

“I-I don’t know how!” Elizabeth protested. 

“Put in the cannonball and point and shoot!” my brother retorted, before turning as the first wave of flying Heartless reached us. “Fira!”

“Thundaga!”

Everything was telling me not to ignore the Heartless exploding and dying above my head but I trusted Donald and Sora to take care of them. Right now we had to deal with the Black Pearl or the assault would never stop. It took a second to figure out how the canon worked but once I did I quickly loaded in a cannonball, pointed, and shot. The ballistic ball of iron collided with the side of the Black Pearl in an explosion of splinters, and I cheered.

“Yes!” I grinned, only for the smile to fall off my face as the smoke cleared and revealed the most pathetic dent in wood I have ever seen. Scratch damage, really. “What the heck?” I asked, flabbergasted. Another explosion sounded off as someone else - Elizabeth - fired off another cannonball, which ended up with the same result. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I grumbled.

“Keep firing! We can at least keep them away from the Interceptor!” Will said through gritted teeth, launching his own canon shot. Which was fair, but…

“How though? They’re just tanking the shots, why would it keep them back?!” Branwen pointed out nervously. The ship moved as Kairi spun the wheel, trying to keep the Black Pearl at our side and not behind us.

“Now what?!” Kairi shouted back at us, her face white. The rest of us probably weren’t any better. Frick. I don’t remember how this fight went down in the games, the heck were we supposed to be doing now?

My heart skipped a beat as the Black Pearl drew ever closer. Another wave of flying Heartless approached, this one engaged by all of us. “Go back to the original plan: blow them off with wind magic and into the ocean. It’ll take ‘em a while to get back on board surely, we can use that time to escape!” I suggested frantically.

Will shook his head. “There’s no way they’re stupid enough to send all of them at us, especially with the Heartless. They’ll just-” Will ducked under a flying Heartless’s talons, whipping out his gun and shooting the thing out of the air. The moment it hit the deck his foot collided with it, sending the unfortunate Heartless flying overboard and into the sea. “-keep after us!”

“Then what are we supposed to do?!” Donald shouted.

“I don’t know!” Will shot back. I risked a glance at the Black Pearl; we were so screwed, they were right next to us now.

“Look out! The pirates are coming!” Goofy shouted in alarm, pointing back at where the pirates were throwing out boarding planks. I raced over, grabbing one and flipping it back, only for the pirate on the other end to flip it back over.

More pirates jumped from the rigging while I was occupied, leaping between the two ships with practiced ease and landing on the deck. Or me - I was on the ground now, squished under a pirate and I did not appreciate it.  

“Aerora!” I cast with a hiss, blasting that particular pirate off me. I scrambled to my feet, Midnight Blue materializing in my hand as I whipped my head around, taking in the very bad situation. We were surrounded and outmatched and-

Cold metal pressed against my neck, and I froze. “Better keep still, lad. Wouldn’t want any accidents to happen.” Barbie’s voice said in my ear, and I swallowed heavily. “I’d put those weapons down if I were you.” Barbie continued in a louder voice, directing this at the rest of our party. “I wouldn’t want there to be any...unseemly accidents.” he added with a sneer, before laughing. I risked a glance - we were at the wheel, they had Kairi captured as well, with Jack tied up on my other side. Crap.

“Riku! Kairi! Jack!” Sora shouted, alarmed. “Let them go!” The blade at my throat pressed down harder, and I hissed as it drew blood. Alarmed looks spread across my friends and family’s faces, and they were quick to disarm themselves, Will returning his gun to the holster on his upper leg while the others dematerialized their weapons. Myself and Kairi included - the pirates’ knives would cut our throats before we could finish a swing, and if Kairi or I cast something to throw them off us we risked accidentally dragging the knives held at our necks across them ourselves.

“That’s better. Now, I believe I’ll be having back that medallion.” Barbie said, and I saw him gesture to the pendant Elizabeth held in her hand out of the corner of my eye. “Unless, of course, it’s more important than their lives?” he asked in a mock-questioning tone.

“Barbossa!” Will growled, stepping forward. Oh, so that was his name. Hey, Barbie was pretty close - and what was up to me and getting names just a little bit off? “They go free.” 

“Oh? And what would make me do that?” Barbossa asked.

“Because my name is Will Turner. My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner! His blood runs in my veins.” Will told him.

“Aye?!” Barbosa asked, clearly caught by surprise. “You speak the truth?”

“Yes. Do as I say and let them go, and I’ll come with you. Otherwise-” Will whipped his gun back out of its holster, swiftly pointing it at his- wait what was he doing!? “-I’ll pull this trigger and be off to Davy Jones’s locker.” Oh. Right, that.

“...Fine. You’ll come with us, and they’ll go free.” Barbossa agreed, before laughing. “Free into the drink!”

“What?! No!” Will shouted, only to be clocked upside the head with Pete’s fist, who caught the unconscious man and bolted for the Black Pearl. There was a moment of panic as I worried Barbossa would simply cut my throat and be done with it, but then he and the other pirates were running back for the Black Pearl as Heartless began spawning like crazy on the deck, and not just any Heartless - fire Heartless. The Interceptor caught fire in their presence, and Barbossa laughed as the Black Pearl began to sail away.

“Blizzara!”

“Blizzaga!”

“Dark Blizzara!” We all began frantically running around trying to extinguish the fires, but the Heartless coming at us with intent to kill wasn’t helping any. I started coughing, and I wasn’t the only one - the fire was spreading like crazy, hungrily consuming the wood like a demon itself.

“-the drink! Jump into the drink!” Jack was shouting, having freed himself from the ropes in the meantime, and at this point, I didn’t see any reason to argue with him. I ran across half the deck before leaping over the rail, landing with a splash into the water below. And ouch saltwater burned!

“Cure!” I cast, dealing with the cut from Barbossa’s stupid knife, and the pain vanished. Sora, Jack, Elizabeth, Donald, Goofy, Branwen, Kairi, and I treaded water as we watched the Interceptor burn, sinking into the waves.

“Now what? We’re going to drown!” Elizabeth panicked.

“No, there’s enough pieces of the ship left to sit on. We won’t be at risk of drowning, that’s for sure.” Jack said, shaking his head. “Just look out for leaping sparks, will you?”

“Wait, we can build a raft - there’s some rope left here, we can use it to lash pieces of wood together!” Branwen said, swimming over and grabbing said rope.

“What about the Heartless?” Elizabeth asked, clearly frightened as the various kinds of fire-throwing Heartless huddled at the rails of the sinking ship.

“I think they’ve just murdered themselves.” I pointed out dryly, before shaking my head. “We can keep them off us with Blizzaras while we work.”

“Best split up into two groups then.” Jack agreed. “Let’s say you key wielders shoot the magic, and the rest build this raft.”

“We don’t know how to build a raft!” Donald sputtered. 

“You can follow directions, can’t you?” Jack retorted.

“Donald, Kairi, you’re the best at long range, you’re on Heartless duty. Riku, you too. The rest of us, let’s get this raft done.” Sora ordered, grabbing hold of a broken wooden beam and moving it over to where Branwen could tie it together with Elizabeth’s piece. We’d built rafts before for fun, paddling and semi-sailing around the Play Island, upon which many games of pirates were had. I’d known better about travel between worlds, so the ill-fated rafting trip had never even been an inkling of an idea, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t build our own little rafts ever. And it was fun. 

We got to our respective tasks with gusto, the burning ship making for an ominous background to our work. With the exception of the occasional flying flame, all we really had to worry about was the Heartless, and they didn’t really seem keen on coming down to the ocean, though our chunks of ice melting on them from the heat of the flames wasn’t doing them any favors either.

A sudden spray of water hosed down them and the side of the ship, and I turned as Donald crowed in excitement, “Use wind to splash ‘em with water! That’ll get them from below too!”

“Right!” Kairi and I chorused, and began intermixing Aeroras aimed at the sea with our potshots of Blizzaras. Within minutes, the rest of the Heartless were gone, and after making sure that there were no more coming after us, we turned to see the results of everyone else’s work. It was uneven and a mess, but it was functional and that’s all we cared about. Donald, Kairi, and I gratefully hauled ourselves out of the ocean to sit on the raft with the rest of our group.

“I managed to salvage a little piece of sail. Not much, but it’ll do.” Jack said, gesturing to the uneven sail attached to the raft. “I’m sure you can call your wind magic to get us to where we need to go.”

“Definitely, though we’ll have to take turns. This is gonna burn through a lot of mana.” Branwen agreed.

“Do you even know where we’re supposed to go?” Donald asked Jack. The pirate looked entirely offended at the question.

“Of course I do! I’m a pirate; I know how to navigate the seven seas!” Jack huffed, before pulling out a compass and glancing between it and the stars. After a few seconds of fiddling, Jack nodded to himself before turning to face us. “Right! Go this way.” he said, pointing off into the distance.

“Okay!” Donald said, before moving to the back of the raft. “Aeroga!”

That, unfortunately, blew out the sail beyond the capabilities of the rope to hold it to the mast. After a quick scramble to grab and then reattach it, Donald switched to the less powerful Aerora, and that was enough to get us moving at a decent clip. Not as fast as a ship, but pretty good all things considered.

Really, the only reason our raft was holding together is that my family and I were experts at making the things. We’d learned from trial and error how to get them to best hold together and not sink, and that was paying dividends now. 

“We are chasing down the Black Pearl on a raft. The finest pirate ship to ever sail the seas. On a raft.” Jack deadpanned in obvious disbelief, before letting out a breathless chuckle and shaking his head. “What has the world come to.”

“Do you think we’ll make it in time?” Kairi asked, biting her lip nervously. “They’ve got a big head start, and the Black Pearl is faster than us.”

“Well, seeing as we can’t make this little dinghy go any faster, we’ll just have to hope and pray.” Jack answered grimly. “At least they’re sailing with the wind against them, unlike us. They’ll be much slower without the use of their sails. That’ll buy us some time.” Actually, that gave me an idea.

“Some of us can fire Aeroras from the back too, that should give us some more propulsion.” I suggested.

“Good idea. Just don’t overdo it, okay?” Goofy said worriedly.

“We’ll be fine. Just hold onto something; we’re already going much faster than a raft should go.” I pointed out, moving to sit behind Donald, facing out from the back of the raft.

“Aerora!” I cast, the spell hitting the waves and pushing us along. After some experimenting, I found that casting blasts every few seconds was more efficient than simply blasting wind nonstop, which would also drain me dry very quickly.

We were going to go through our entire stock of ethers, weren’t we?

~*~

Yes. Yes, we did. But it got us to where we needed to go. We were all pretty much dead, but we’d made it, even if only by sheer willpower and desperation. 

“Come on. I know you’re exhausted but we haven’t the time to lose.” Jack said, his voice strangely kind. I just nodded breathlessly, assuming the others were doing something similar, before following the man at his quick pace into the caves. All of my muscles felt like they were on fire. Magical exhaustion was draining, and we had no more ethers to use. We were going to be seriously handicapped in this fight, being both dead on our feet and unable to use magic until our reserves started replenishing themselves. At least the monologues would buy us time for that. 

We burst into the cave just in time to see Barbosa going at Will with a knife. I didn’t even think twice, shifting forms and lunging at Barbosa just in time to intercept him, clamping my jaws down on his knife arm and dragging it down with my weight - the blade narrowly missing Will’s shoulder, but better that than his neck.

On the bright side, the sudden arrival of our group plus the sudden and completely unexpected transformation of a teenager into a wolf caught all of the pirates off guard. Jack too, but he recovered quickly - he was used to our magical shenanigans. They weren’t. 

“Wh-wha- impossible!” Barbosa spluttered, and not being an idiot I let go and backed off before he could stab me, Midnight Blue appearing in my mouth. I knew for a fact that Will at least had a gun on him, and even though bullets weren’t the immediately life-threatening horror I knew from my life before, they were still incredibly dangerous, and I didn’t want to risk even my momentary helplessness in the couple seconds it took to pull in or out my darkness.

As for how his crew was taking it, well, his crew wasn’t much better.

“I-is he cursed?”

“Is it the magics? They’re witches, the lot of ‘em!”

“A werewolf! He has to be!” Someone shouted, inciting mass panic.

“Is it a full moon tonight?”

“It is! He’s cursed! He’s cursed!”

“I’ll show ye sharp steel, werewolf!” One of the zombie pirates growled, unsheathing a blade that was somewhere between a sword and a dagger. 

“Not steel you idiot, silver! Does anybody ‘ave any silver on ‘em?!” a second shouted in a near-panic. There was a few seconds of fearful murmuring, before someone held up a dagger into the air.

“I got one!” This set off cheers among the entire crew, who parted to let the dude with the silver dagger come to the forefront of the crowd.

<Not a werewolf, but whatever.> I sighed. This was going to be fun. Not. I forgot how superstitious the people of this time period still were.

At least a silver weapon was about the same amount of a threat as a normal one was. And hey, if they were leery about stabbing me with anything else that was a bonus for me, right?

Apparently so, given that there was a literal bubble of space around me as the pirates moved out of my way as we fought like so many fearful sheep. Not wanting to get- ohhh, I had an idea. I lunged underneath the silver knife pirate’s swing, headbutting him in the stomach and using his momentum to flip him over. The knife clattered onto the ground and I dropped Midnight Blue in favor of snatching it up in my mouth, jumping over the fight between Kairi and another pirate as I scrambled for the cave entrance.

“No!” Formerly silver knife wielding pirate shouted in dismay as I chucked the weapon as far as I could into the tunnel leading out of the cavern.

<I got rid of the silver knife!> I shouted gleefully, getting the horrified attention of all of the zombie pirates as I bared my teeth with a dramatic snarl, tail held high and proud. <Time to bite people!>

Utter pandemonium. I was standing between them and the only exit to this place and given that they were terrified of catching lycanthropy on top of the curse they already had it resulted in a panicked stampede as they scrambled to find any other way out. Barbossa’s face in particular looked pale; right, I’d bitten him already, of course he was freaking out.

“Kill him! Just kill the werewolf!” he shouted over the din. “He can’t infect ye if he’s dead!” Well. Crap. As one, the crowd turned to me with lethal intent, and all the mana I’d managed to recover surged to the fore.

<Reflect!> I howled, casting the spell just as the pirates charged. Those that slammed into the barrier fell backward into their brethren, stalling their charge and knocking them over like so many skeletal dominos. The rest of the party pounced on the opportunity, and the moment Midnight Blue reappeared in my jaws I was darting back into the fray. The zombies couldn’t be killed but they sure as heck weren’t immune to getting knocked out. And given that about a fourth of them had taken themselves out in the earlier stampede, it made our job a whole lot easier. It definitely helped that every time they caught a glimpse of my fur in the moonlight they flinched. Ha.

Finally, the noise of fighting echoing through the cave began to peter out. Sora cracked the Kingdom Key over the head of the last pirate standing, sending him crumpling to the floor.

“Who’s next?” Sora demanded, looking around. I dematerialized Midnight Blue, scanning the cave with canine senses for any remaining enemies as well.

<I think that’s all of them.> I said, pushing my forelegs forward and stretching, making sure to get my hind legs too. <Now where’s- oh.> I interrupted myself, looking over at Jack and Barbosa dueling. <One guy left.>

“Jack, get him!” Sora cheered, which proved a costly distraction for Jack, one which Barbosa took ruthless advantage of to run him through with his blade.

Sora, Donald, Kairi, and I gasped, horrified - had Jack picked up a coin yet? I didn’t know, I didn’t see - what if he didn’t?! He was dead if he didn’t!

I breathed out a sigh of relief as Jack stumbled back into the moonlight, proving that he had, indeed, picked up a coin while I’d been focused on the battle. He took a moment to look himself over, before grinning sharply at Barbosa, passing the stolen coin back and forth over his fingers tauntingly in an impressively smooth movement, and he made it look easy to boot!

“Jack…” Will breathed, relieved. Call me crazy, but after surviving a life and death situation together you really couldn’t help but be friends after - for good or ill. Friggin’ Ansem.

Jack pulled the sword out of his chest (it had caught in his ribs, which is why the game hadn’t been up til he stepped into the moonlight). Meanwhile, Barbosa looked somewhere between panicked and furious, and turned toward a wall seemingly at random.

“Show yerself, Pete! The tides have changed!” he snarled. Pete stepped out from the shadows, grinning smugly from ear to ear. He put his hands on his hips, before saying,

“See? I told ya you’d be needin’ ol’ Pete!” Pete then put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, a giant lizardlike boss Heartless with a scorpion’s tail crawling down from the darkness of the cave ceiling to answer his call. 

Illuminator. Wonderful. Oh, and it could turn invisible. Double wonderful.

Actually, wait. Beast had tracked down Shadow Stalker by scent when that thing had gone invisible. Could I do the same thing? Track it down by its darkness? I should, right?

Illuminator hissed, eyes glowing for a brief moment before returning to normal. The thing leapt from stalactite to stalactite before finally landing next to Barbosa, letting out a roar of challenge as its tongue flailed back and forth like a streamer in the wind. Barbosa only grinned, clearly thinking he’d won with Illuminator on his side.

He was about to learn that he hadn’t.

Illuminator started off the fight by whipping its tail around, sucking almost all of the light out of the room into the lantern on the end of it like Dumbledoor’s deluminator, and my friends yelped in alarm as visibility plummeted. 

“Over there!” Sora shouted, before charging off - right to where a pair of glowing yellow eyes leered from the darkness. Wow. Even Shadow Stalker wasn’t that dumb.

Illuminator shrieked in pain as first Sora and then Goofy slammed their weapons into its body, the captured light flying loose in its distraction.

Barbossa charged, but I intercepted him - no way was I letting him anywhere near my friends. We fought cutlass to keyblade, Barbossa looking more than a bit weirded out as we dueled. I mentally snickered; betcha haven’t dueled a wolf before, have you? Brought to mind that horse-dueling scene from Tangled. 

“Begone, werewolf!” Barbossa shouted, before I suddenly had to backpedal very fast as Illuminator lunged at me from over the pirate. Illuminator’s tongue slapped into me and sent me flying into the wall with a yelp of pain.

“Riku! Slow!” Kairi shouted in worry as Illuminator swung its tail around again, slowing down its darkening of the room as Barbossa laughed.

“Give it up - this is the end for you.” he sneered. “Heartless, keep your cursed eyes closed! Don’t give yourself away in the darkness!”

Nuggets. I hated it when the bad guys were smart.

Illuminator hissed in reply, and I knew there’d be no visual cues as to where it was hiding this time. But we didn’t need visual cues to find the thing.

I breathed in deeply as Barbossa cackled from the darkness. Ignoring the familiar scents of my friends and the less than familiar scents of the others present, I focused in on only one thing: the scent of complete and utter darkness.

Gotcha.

I lunged into the dark, getting a satisfying shriek of pain from Illuminator as Midnight Blue struck home, the room brightening again as Illuminator lost control of the light.

“How- you!” Barbossa howled, glaring at me with hate-filled eyes, before charging straight at me with quite honestly terrifying speed. “Demon! Monster! Die!”

<Dark Fire!> I cast, forcing Barbossa to back the heck off, before Branwen jumped in between us, catching Barbossa’s cutlass with his own keyblade.

“That’s a bit rich coming from you!” Branwen snarled, before stomping his foot onto the ground. Barbossa was too close to realize that was an attack and not a tantrum before the waves of darkness shot forward and sent him flying backward.

“Alright!” Sora crowed, before darting in and going into a flurry rush. I heard the sounds of Kairi raining magical stars down combining with the shrieking of Illuminator, and rightly assumed she and Donald were taking care of it.

Barbossa howled, throwing my brother off him, and almost ran him through. If Sora hadn’t rolled to the left right then-!

“Allow me!” Jack yelled, before occupying Barbossa’s attention with a sword to the face, letting Sora scramble clear.

“Cura!” Donald cast, watching the gash on Sora’s arm close up, and I let out a relieved breath as the spell finished its work. “You alright, Sora?”

“Yeah. Come on, let’s- duck!” Sora howled, and I immediately hit the dirt. The flailing body of Illuminator sailed overhead, before crashing down onto Barbossa.

<Wh-what was that?> I asked, getting to my feet and looking back toward where Illuminator had come flying from, before laughing as I saw the raised, ice-covered rock sitting innocently on the ground, forming a natural ramp. <Dude, I didn’t even think about that! Nice one!>

“That- that was an accident, I missed a Blizzara and it hit the ground in front of it, but since it was uneven it just sort of…” Kairi made a flying motion with her hand, and I laughed again, uncaring of how the hacking barks sounded as they echoed through the cave.

“Still, that was a sight I’d pay to see again.” Donald said, grinning. A groan from Barbossa had us turning around, the man shoving Illuminator’s bulk off of him before getting to his feet, bent over and short of breath. Only, Illuminator didn’t rise with him.

“No!” Barbossa shouted, looking at the sight of Illuminator disappearing into so much dark smoke in dismay. Pete for his part just flinched backward, drawing my attention to him - so that’s where he’d been hiding during the fight. He stared at us with wide eyes, before taking a few steps back, clenching his fists in anger.

“This ain’t over!” he snarled, before turning tail and running.

“Right.” Jack said, before turning to Barbosa. “Care to surrender, Barbosa?” he asked nonchalantly. The pirate in question growled, straightening back up before leveling his sword at Jack. The pirate captain just sighed in response.

“Well, enough of this then...” he said, before tossing his sword to the ground. I frowned, equally as confused as Barbosa, at least until Jack pulled out a gun and aimed it in his direction. “What say you we call it - a draw?”

Barbosa just raised an eyebrow. “Jack, how many times do I have to tell ya-”

Jack took the opportunity while he was speaking to throw his coin at Will, before turning his head back to Barbosa and firing his gun. Barbosa just laughed, treating the bullet to the chest as the non-threat it was. 

“Laugh while you can, Barbosa!” Will shouted, drawing our attention to where he was standing over the box of Aztec gold - with a closed fist held out over the chest and a knife in his other hand.

A bloodied knife. 

<Ohhh, you’re so dead.> I breathed, not caring that it was loud enough for the whole room to hear. Will smirked, before dropping Jack’s coin and the bloodstained medallion into the box, thus ending the curse.

With a bullet still in Barbossa.

I could hear a clear but quiet ringing sound, like the sound of a single, drawn out chime of a bell in the wind. I wasn’t quite sure how to describe it, just that it was very distinctive, and obviously the curse lifting. Barbosa choked, doubling over before staggering backward. I don’t know how this all worked, since Jack had been run through and was still perfectly fine, but it probably had to do with the fact that Jack had pulled said sword out, while Barbosa still had the bullet in his heart (or possibly lung, I hadn’t seen where he hit).

“I feel...cold.” Barbosa whispered, looking at his trembling hands, before he collapsed onto the ground. We watched as he took his last breath, before ceasing to move. Just like I once had. Jack gazed levelly at the dead body in front of him, of the man who had once been his friend and trusted ally, before turning to the rest of us.

“Right. You kids go on then, make sure miss Swan is alright. Will and I have some...business to take care of here first.” he said, and I blinked. 

“What?” Sora asked, just as baffled as the rest of us.

“Jack’s right. We won’t be long. Just go, okay?” Will asked. I was confused. Why were they- oh. Oh.

There was still the matter of Barbossa’s crew to deal with, and they were trying to save us the sight of them having to put them down.

<Jack and Will are right. C’mon, let’s go.> I said, though not without giving the pair a knowing look. We turned and left the still corpse behind us, gold glinting tauntingly in the moonlight as I led everyone back to the entrance of the cave, where the Black Pearl had been moored inside. And more importantly, where our haphazardly put-together raft sat on the beach, Elizabeth sitting on a rock nearby.

“Hey, Elizabeth! You alright?” Sora called. Elizabeth startled before running over to us.

“Yes, I’m fine. What about Will and Jack?” she asked worriedly.

<They’re fine. They just had something to take care of real quick back in that cave.> I said, glancing back over in that direction briefly before returning my attention to Elizabeth. 

“I see.” Elizabeth said, likely putting two and two together if the somber tone of her voice was of any indication.

“They should be back soon though.” Branwen assured her. Elizabeth gave him a strained smile.

“I hope so.” she said. Thankfully, it wasn’t even ten minutes before we heard Jack and Will’s approach.

“-ever I want, now that the Pearl is mine again.” Jack was saying, giving Will a shrug.

“That she is.” Will agreed, turning to Jack. “Thank you, Jack.” He held out a hand, only for Jack to bodily flinch backward, covering his head. When the expected blow didn’t come, the pirate shifted out of his defensive stance, obviously confused.

“I didn’t want ye hittin’ me again, mate.” Jack said defensively.

“Hey Jack.” Sora said, getting the man’s attention. “Good luck.”

“And remember to be good!” Donald added, which sent me into hysterics. Elizabeth looked startled at the rapid, hacking barks coming out of my mouth but since no one else looked concerned she decided not to be either.  

“I’m off.” Jack said, pointing - wait, was that finger guns?! - at our group. He started to back away, before Goofy spoke up.

“Wait a minute, don’t we all need a ride back?” he asked, and oh yeah. I mean, we could take the raft again, but that would pretty much kill us, so no.

I was cut off from that train of thought by Elizabeth racing past us toward Will and Jack with an ecstatic expression on her face.

“Will!” she shouted eagerly. Jack outstretched his arms for a hug, only for her to run right past him and straight into Will’s arms. Jack looked rather disappointed but expectant, which made sense. Poor guy.

“We can hug you if you like.” Kairi spoke up, giggling a little. Sora looked ecstatic at that. Jack looked like he was honestly considering it, before caving.

“Alright, alright. Group hug with you kids.” Jack relented, before getting absolutely mobbed by our entire group, plus myself as soon as I’d pulled back my darkness. There was lots of giggling to go around from all of us, save Jack who just chuckled at our enthusiasm.

“Alright, that’s enough. If we’re gonna get back to Port Royal before sunrise, we’ll have to leave now.” he said.

“Why sunrise?” Branwen asked curiously, all of us boarding the ship.

“Because pirates are rather wanted men - and women - and I’d rather not be thrown in a prison cell to be executed again.” Jack explained.

“Ohhhh.”

“Exactly. Now, let’s get going.” Jack said. “Get the ship ready, you lot. You’re going to be my substitute crew for the night.”

Any response of ours was interrupted by a surprised yelp from Jack as his compass suddenly lit up, and began floating into the air.

“Guess it’s my turn again.” I said, before materializing my keyblade and unlocking the keyhole. Jack, Will, and Elizabeth gaped in wonder the entire time; I didn’t blame them. It really was something else to see.

“Wh-what was that?” Will stammered out. We all looked at each other, before I spoke up.

“Do you want the long version or the short version? Because it’s a rather convoluted magical ritual, and one that’s rather important to do, so we’ve been journeying around making sure it gets done where it needs to be - it’s a protective ritual, you see, and of course with all the Heartless running amok-”

“Right, that’s enough.” Jack interrupted my intentionally long-winded explanation. “Important magic ritual for you witches to get rid of those Heartless monsters, I get it. And werewolf.” he added, much to the amusement of my friends and family.

“Not a werewolf.” I said, rolling my eyes. “My ability to shapeshift is magic, not lycanthropy.”

“Got it. More witchy stuff.” Jack said, before taking up his position behind the wheel. “Right. Let’s get to it.”

~*~

It pretty much took the rest of the night to get back to town, one that was spent with much yawning and sleepy eyes.

“Right, I’m not goin’ any closer than this. You lot take a lifeboat back, and I’ll be off on my own business.” Jack said. We all nodded, before piling into said lifeboat, with Jack helping us get into the water. Someone had to lower the thing, after all.

“You kids are exhausted. We can put you up in town, you know.” Will offered.

“Yeah, that would be great.” Kairi said, but I shook my head mournfully.

“It’s too risky. We’re witches, remember? If anyone finds that out, we’ll be in…” I yawned, before shaking my head. “We’ll be in just as much of a pickle as Jack would.”

“Awww.” Donald moped, his head drooping.

“That’s a shame. Where will you sleep?” Elizabeth asked, concern clear in her voice. We all thought about it for a moment, before Sora spoke up.

“Well, we’re not exactly in any kind of condition to drive the gummi ship, so we’ll probably just camp out for the night and leave in the morning.” Sora mused. Will and Elizabeth looked at us in surprise.

“You have a ship?” Elizabeth asked.

“Not a big one.” Donald pipped up. “And it’s a bit different to what you’re used to.”

“Remember what Riku said about important magical rituals? We need to head off elsewhere to continue it. We’re not done yet.” Kairi added.

“I see.” Will said, before nodding. “Well, let’s get you all to land then.”

It didn’t take long to get to the docks, where I quickly tied the lifeboat to them.

“Thank you all for your help. We really couldn’t have done this without you guys and Jack.” Elizabeth said.

“It’s no problem - we were happy to help.” Branwen said, before yawning again. “Ugh, I can barely stay awake.”

“I’m more than ready to sleep like the dead.” I grumbled, sending Kairi, Sora, and Branwen into giggles at my intentional phrasing. 

“Let’s get somewhere where we can sleep. We all need it.” Goofy agreed.

“Goodbye guys. Stay safe.” Kairi said.

“Yeah. Maybe we’ll see you guys later.” Sora added. Will and Elizabeth glanced at each other, before smiling at us.

“Yes, I would like that.” Will said, before adding. “Now get on with it, get some sleep. Elizabeth and I have a governor to get back to.”

“Right. Take...take care.” I said, yawning again dangit, before turning to the forest outside of town. I began walking toward the trees, followed by everyone else. We didn’t walk long; the trees obscured us pretty well, but we did make sure to get decently far from the city. No sense in risking someone stumbling across a bunch of kids camping out in the wild.

“I think we’re good.” I said, before flopping down on the grass. 

“We don’t have blankets.” Kairi frowned. I frowned too, before the lightbulb went off in my head and poof, wolf on the grass with a built-in fur coat. Which, it was actually more comfortable on the ground as a wolf? Huh.

“No fair, Riku.” Sora complained, though the smile on his face rather ruined the effect.

“We’ll deal with it, it’s not like the gummi ship is big enough for six people to sleep in.” Donald said dismissively. “We can shower back there in the morning.”

“True. Goodnight guys. Or, good day really.” Branwen said, giggling as he took his own place to pass out on the grass.

It didn’t take very long for us all to fall asleep. I don’t think I’ve ever used that much magic at once in my life, and we were all suffering the consequences for it. But really, if it saved everyone...it was a price I was more than willing to pay.

Chapter Text

When I woke up the next morning, I opened my eyes to see twilight beginning to fall. We’d slept through pretty much the entire day, then.

Then again, since it had been day in Disney Castle when it was night here, it was like being in different timezones. Hopefully the next world, whatever Jack’s compass connected to, would be in the day by this time. I shifted forms, returning to being human, only to squeak and immediately revert. It was chilly out! 

Yay for wolf fur being incredibly insulating, I couldn’t even feel it like this and it was amazing. Was this what huskies felt like in the snow? It was glorious. 

<Hey, guys. Wake up.> I said, getting up and gently pawing at Branwen. Branwen whined, peeling an eye open before giving me a baleful look.

“Five more minutes.” he grumbled, rolling back over. Unlike me, Branwen was not a morning person. I just shook my head with a chuckle before trying again.

<Come on, we’ve got to get going. Don’t you wanna shower, too?> I asked. Branwen opened his eyes again and looked like he was thinking about it, before groaning and sitting up.

“Fiiiiine.” he grumbled, getting up and dusting himself off. I was already starting to paw Kairi awake, and Branwen moved to wake up Goofy. Donald had woken up on his own from the noise, and Sora was even harder to rouse than Branwen had been. I had to resort to casting a weak Dark Blizzard and dropping the resulting ice cube on him.

“Gahh!” Sora yelped, immediately bolting upright and shaking the ice cube and cold water off his clothes. “Rikuuuu.” he whined, clearly guessing who was at fault here.

<You needed to get up. We’ve got another world to get to, remember?> I said.

“And a shower with our names on it.” Kairi added. Sora’s expression brightened.

“Oh yeah!” he said, before his face fell. “Wait. Isn’t there only one bathroom?”

Silence fell over the group as this dawned on us. Donald made a face, while Goofy spoke up.

“Well, we’ll all have to get clean fast then.” he said.

“Yeah, guess so.” Branwen reluctantly agreed.

“Come on. The sooner we get to the ship, the sooner we can shower.” Donald said.

“I call dibs!” Kairi and Branwen shouted in unison, before glaring at each other. I went to shrug only to remember that I couldn't with my current anatomy and settled with a slow, sideways shake of my head.

<I can go last, I’ve been worse.> I offered, not missing the wince thrown between them.

“You can go first, Kairi. Just don’t take too long, okay?” Branwen relented.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Kairi promised. It wasn’t a long trek before we got to where we parked the gummi ship; we hadn’t gone crazy far into the woods, and we’d parked sensibly back in the forest behind the fortress rather than landing on it. Which was on the other side of the docks, hence why we’d slept out here.

We had to take the circular route around town, but it didn’t really delay us that much now that we weren’t all dead on our feet. And true to her word, Kairi marched straight to the trapdoor that opened into the bathroom and closed it behind her. I heard the shower turn on, and we all settled in to wait.

~*~

Once everyone had finished taking their showers, I pulled back my darkness before hopping in myself. When I was done, happily dried off with a weak Aero, I found everybody at the seats making guesses about what world we were headed to next.

“It’s gotta be something about discovery. I mean, what else would a compass represent?” Sora was saying.

“It could also be about direction. Something or someone important could have gotten lost.” Branwen pointed out.

“I’m done.” I called out, plopping down into my seat. Sora shot me a grin, before taking up the gun controls.

“Alright. Let’s go see what world’s keyhole we have to unlock next!” he said cheerfully.

“You said it!” Donald agreed, taking hold of the wheel. And with that, we were off, the familiar sights of space and exploding Heartless ships never ceasing to amaze. Even if the exploding Heartless were more funny than scary at this point, the sight of all the stars, meteors, comets, and the worlds...everyone else had pretty much gotten used to it, but it would always be breathtaking to me.

...I really needed to buy a camera dangit. Surely one of these worlds had to sell them, right?

The desert world we landed on was impossible not to recognize, what with the architecture of the city in front of us. I grinned happily - we were in Aladdin, one of my favorite Disney movies!

“Whew, it really is hot out here.” Branwen said.

“Yeah, Agrabah’s not hot and humid like we’re used to.” Sora agreed. He shot a glance at me, and I shook my head.

“Dry, cold, and hot, yes, but this hot? Nuh uh.” I said in answer to his unspoken question about Utah.

“What’s cold?” Goofy asked.

“Hollow Bastion.” I lied immediately. “It snowed there and everything.”

“Ah, that’s right.” Donald said, before changing the subject as we entered the city. “You know, I wonder how Aladdin and Jasmine are doing?

“You’ve been here before?” Kairi asked, surprised. “Wait, I know Jasmine. She was one of the other Princesses of Heart. All of us waited together while you guys went off to stop Ansem, remember?” she added at their confused looks.

“Oh, that’s right.” Sora realized, before grinning. “I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you again!”

“Awesome.” Branwen said, giving a smile of his own. “So it’s just my twin and I who need introductions then.”

Goofy laughed. “I guess so.” he said, before looking up toward the castle. Or palace, or whatever it was called. We meandered through the market, restocking on supplies while we were here. We stored our new potion stock in our pockets before moving on, heading purposefully toward the palace. 

At least, until I heard the sound of wings flapping. I frowned, stopping in the middle of the street as I glanced around for the source.

“What i-?” my little brother started to ask, turning around, before Goofy interrupted him.

“Uh oh! It’s uh- um-!”

“I-!” I started, Midnight Blue appearing in my hand, before immediately shifting tracks before I screwed myself over. “-’s not good news, is he?” I recovered, not a beat between the words.

“No! It’s Iago!” Goofy shouted, bringing his own weapon out, quickly followed by everyone else.

“Wait! You got me all wrong!” Iago shouted, somehow managing to flinch in mid-air at the sight of our group about to go on the attack.

“You’re Iago all right!” Donald said, shaking his staff threateningly in his direction.

“No! I mean, it’s not the old me. I turned over a new feather.” the parrot insisted. “I’m legit! No more scams. Promise!”

“He’s a con artist?” Branwen asked warily.

“Not anymore! I swear!” Iago protested.

“Bet that’s your new scam.” Sora deadpanned, the Kingdom Key disappearing as he crossed his arms.

“It’s not, I promise! Ya gotta believe me!” Iago wailed.

“Guys, let’s go.” Donald said, entirely dismissing Iago.

“I was stuck inside that lamp with Jafar. Remember?” Iago asked.

“Wait, you were what?” Branwen choked.

“Yeah, that was a thing.” Sora said, which explained absolutely nothing for those who didn’t know what a genie lamp was or how it worked.

“You three need to sit down and fill us in properly as soon as we get the chance.” Kairi growled. Sora just scratched the back of his head sheepishly, Donald and Goofy looking just as guilty.

“Sorry guys. We’ll do that.” he promised.

“Yeah! Yeah! I was stuck in there, but I finally escaped! But then some things happened and…” Iago landed on the stone stairs nearby, literally drooping as his voice wavered near the end of his sentence.

“So, free as a bird, huh?” Sora asked accusingly.

“Hang on. We should at least hear him out first.” I interjected. Iago immediately perked up at that.

“Yeah! Yeah! Listen to him!” he said, clearly desperate and flustered.

“I mean, he did look pretty sad.” Goofy pointed out. 

“I wanna apologize to Aladdin and Jasmine.” Iago said, taking off from the stairs and making a direct beeline towards me - I immediately flinched backward, and had to windmill my arms frantically to prevent myself from having an embarrassing accident.

“Hey, watch it!” I snapped, regaining my footing.

“I’m just landin’ on ya, honest!” Iago said, coming toward me again. I held still and let the parrot perch on my shoulder. “Anyway, could you guys maybe put in a good word for me?”

“Sure!” Goofy agreed, ignoring my little brother and Donald scowling at the suggestion.

“Why should we? This could be a trick to get back at Aladdin and Jasmine.” Sora said derisively, crossing his arms.

“Yeah! I bet that’s what it is!” Donald agreed.

“I promise it’s not!” Iago yelped, and I cried out reflexively in pain.

“Dude, you’re right next to my ear!” I complained, turning my head to give him a glare. The parrot shrunk back in on himself, looking sheepish.

“Sorry. And I swear, it’s not a trick. I’ve turned over a new feather, I want to apologize. I can’t make things right if you don’t even give me the chance.” Iago pointed out.

“Well, he’s got a point.” Kairi agreed. “I guess we can tell them you’re sincere. Any more than that you’ll have to earn yourself.”

“Thank you, thank you!” Iago breathed in clear relief. Before we could say anything else on the subject, though, we were interrupted by the appearance of desert-themed, colorful Heartless wielding sickle swords appearing around us.

“Watch out!” Iago shrieked, flying from my shoulder and into the air, and we all immediately got into battle-ready stances, weapons out and at the ready.

It shouldn’t have taken us long to beat them - there were five of them and six of us, after all - but for every one we took down, two more would appear.

“Ugh, it’s like a hydra!” I groaned, cutting down another and scything down the two that appeared with the backstroke.

“Where are they all coming from?” Sora asked, clearly as frustrated as I was. Iago started flying around in a panic, screaming at the top of his lungs - but in his panic, he was bumping into and knocking things over left and right, unintentionally stunning and crushing the Heartless below.

“This way!” Donald shouted, before bolting down the road. The rest of us, being no fools, were right on his tail, Iago flying overhead still screaming his lungs out.

It was only a few minutes before we made it to the palace, and happily enough, Jasmine was right there in the courtyard.

“Jasmine!” Kairi called cheerfully, running over to catch her surprised friend in a hug.

“Kairi? Oh, it’s good to see you!” Jasmine said happily, before looking over as the rest of us arrived. “And Sora, Donald, and Goofy too?”

“Yep!” Sora beamed, before bowing with a flourish. “Your majesty.”

Donald and Goofy were quick to copy him, and the rest of us followed suit. Like with Minnie, this was one royal I was more than happy to pay respects to.

“Who are your friends?” Jasmine asked, looking curiously at Branwen and I. “Is one of them the Riku that was in trouble?” I flushed, while Branwen just snickered.

“Yup, that’s this guy over here.” he said, jabbing a thumb over at me. I just flushed harder.

“A-ah, yeah. But I’m fine now.” I stammered. Oh jeez I was making a horrible first impression. 

“Does someone have a crush~?” Sora sing-songed teasingly. I jerked my head up in a flash, staring at him in horror.

“Wha- no! What the frick Sora?!” I squawked, mortified. Everyone else laughed around me, and I just glared at them. “That wasn’t funny, guys.”

“Sure it was.” Goofy snickered. I just shot him a baleful look.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Jasmine chuckled. “And you are…?” she asked, directing this at Branwen. 

“Oh! I’m Branwen, Riku’s twin brother.” he said, introducing himself.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both.” Jasmine smiled. I nodded, pointedly ignoring the traitors behind me as I took a step forward.

“Likewise.” I said, extending a hand to shake. Jasmine smiled and happily shook my hand. My inner five year old was screaming in joy.

“I never had the chance to thank you for before.” Jasmine said. “You helped Aladdin defeat that awful Jafar and saved Agrabah.”

“This being the same Jafar that got sealed in a lamp?” Kairi asked, directing the question to our brother, who nodded before grinning at Jasmine.

“All in a day’s work.” he said, putting his hands back behind his head.

“It was no problem, Jasmine.” Goofy added. “We’re just glad you’re alright.” 

“Yeah.” Sora agreed, before growing serious, dropping his hands back to his sides. “But it looks like there’s still Heartless running around here, even with Jafar gone. Is there any way we can help you out?”

The fluttering of wings behind me told me that Iago was using me as a shield from Jasmine, which was understandable. He and Jasmine had not parted on good terms, after all.

“...I think we’re all right.” Jasmine said after a moment.

“And ya always got Aladdin.” Goofy added with a smile. Jasmine just sighed, looking downcast.

“He...hasn’t been himself lately.” she said.

“Is he alright?” I asked, concerned.

“Is it because of the Heartless?” Donald added, gripping his staff and looking ready to punch some lights out.

“I’m not sure.” Jasmine said honestly. “Usually, he’s the same cheerful Aladdin. But sometimes...he just seems sad.”

Sora hummed as we all mulled this over. 

“Maybe it’s just now settling in that he’s a prince?” I offered hesitantly. “I mean, he literally went from rags to riches overnight. That’s gotta be some serious shock right there. It’ll probably be a while to adjust to that.” 

Jasmine shook her head. “It’s been a year. Surely he’s had time to adjust?” Oh. Right. “I mean, recently he’s been leaving the palace and going off on his own all the time, but when I’ve asked him about it, he says nothing’s wrong.” A worried expression appeared on her face. “He’s gone again today. What if he doesn’t come back this time?”

“Hey! Maybe he’s got a secret girlfriend!” Iago suddenly piped up, flying out from behind me. 

“Iago you freaking moron!” I shouted, expression thunderous. The parrot looked shocked by my outburst.

“What? I was just offering to help!” he protested.

“Iago!” Jasmine snarled, scowling angrily at the bird. “Quick, Sora, catch him!” she shouted, lunging forward and just barely missing the parrot in question, nearly snagging him three times before Iago made it back to cower behind Kairi this time. “And I’ll warn the guards and everyone in the palace!”

“Jasmine wait, he’s-!” Kairi started, but Jasmine had already taken off, the doors of the palace booming shut behind her. “Ugh. Nice going, idiot.” she said, glaring at where Iago was draped against her back, clinging to her shoulders.

“What?! What did I do wrong?” Iago demanded, letting go and taking to the air again. “Was it something I said?”

“Flat out saying that someone’s boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating is about the best way to piss them off.” Branwen said, giving him a look. “Especially when you’re wrong.”

“Exactly. Aladdin would never do that.” Sora said in defense of his friend, before sighing. “Well, this just got a lot harder.”

“I’m sorry.” Iago said, drooping.

“It’s alright.” I said, before patting my shoulder. “Here, come sit down.”

“Gee, maybe we should go talk to Aladdin?” Goofy suggested as Iago gratefully flew over to do just that.

“Thanks, kid. You’re a good egg.” Iago told me sincerely, which was honestly not what I was expecting from today.

“Um, thank you.” I said.

“You think he’s somewhere in town?” Kairi asked. Goofy nodded.

“Probably.”

“Good idea.” Sora said. “I wonder what he’s been up to?”

“Guess we’ll go find out.” Branwen said, giving Sora a smile. “Now come on. I saw a weird thing in the markets and I wanna try it.”

“A weird thing?” Iago asked, rather confused.

“It’s a tradition of my family’s. Once a week, you bring home something new you haven’t tried and, well, try it.” I explained as we left the palace. “I’ve found a lot of my favorite foods that way, like coconut.”

“Yeah, coconut’s good.” Branwen agreed, before giggling. “I don’t like it as much as this dork though.”

“Hey.” I protested teasingly. Branwen just laughed in response. Memories and physical form we may share, but taste buds we did not. As evidenced by the fact that Branwen actually liked eggplant, despite sixteen years of his brain telling him otherwise. 

Eugh. I hate eggplant, with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. That crap is nasty. And Branwen only tried it because of a game of Truth-Or-Dare. Branwen had been the target of the dare, but then he actually liked it and completely ruined the effect that, uh…

Wait. Who had dared him to eat one? We were going in turns in a circle: Olette had just taken her turn and it had been a rather embarrassing truth from Pence, not a dare. Hayner certainly hadn’t dared Branwen to do it, not when he took his turn to dare me to eat a random flowering weed outside and was very put out when I had no issues doing so. And since there definitely hadn’t been anyone between Olette and Hayner in the circle and Branwen wouldn’t have just done it on his own out of nowhere, that left only one option. 

I smiled softly. Zion. It had to have been. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool!” Sora agreed with a nod. “Riku’s brought back some weird stuff though.” 

“Hey, you liked the bleu cheese!” I teased, mind still reeling from the revelation. Sora laughed. 

“Just because I liked it didn’t mean it wasn’t weird, Riku!” He retorted. I chuckled, before growing serious. 

“Hey, Branwen. When we were playing Truth-Or-Dare back at the mansion, the one where we all discovered you like eggplant, who was the one to dare you to do it?” I asked, wanting to bring the memory block I’d just tripped over to everyone’s attention. Branwen looked surprised by the apparent non-sequitur. 

“Why?” He asked. 

“Just answer me, please.” I told him. My twin just gave me a dubious look, before complying. 

“Well, she’d been so smug about it, at least until it backfired, and…” he paused, furrowing his brows in confusion. “Wait. She? Olette had just gone before me, so it couldn’t have been her, and Naminé was busy, so...” Branwen trailed off, his eyes widening in realization. “Wait, was it Zion?! It had to be Zion, right?!”

“Right.” I nodded. 

“Wow. I’d never have caught that.” Sora said, before looking sheepish. “I mean, I wasn’t even there, but still. Nice catch, Riku. What made you think of it?”

“Uh, I thought about the whole eggplant thing when I was explaining about my family’s tradition-” My first family’s, tradition. “-and I uh, remembered that Branwen and I have entirely different tastes in food, which we found out cause of the dare. Me, Hayner, Olette, Branwen, and Pence had been taking turns in a circle, so when I couldn’t remember who dared him between Olette and Hayner’s turns and there hadn’t been anyone sitting between them, well…” I shrugged, not needing to explain any further. 

I was relieved, whenever I discovered something in my memory that made no sense without Zion. Any missing piece I could wrest back from the hold of the memory effect was precious. Heck, all of my memories were. That’s why forgetting had been so hard on me - was still hard on me. 

I didn’t care that bringing her back would render the whole thing moot, that didn’t change the fact that I couldn’t remember now and it was killing me. 

Iago looked between us, obviously confused. “Zion? Who is she? And why are you having problems remembering what you did with her?” He asked, baffled. 

“It’s complicated.” Donald groaned. 

“A memory curse, ah-hyuck.” Goofy answered at the same time. Iago just frowned at us, before shrugging his wings. 

“Sure, alright. Not my business anyway.” He said, thankfully dropping the subject. We all looked at each other, a little awkward and on edge, before Kairi broke the silence. 

“So, what was it that you found?” she asked Branwen as we followed him through the markets. 

“I don’t know, but it looked really weird. Like a raisin almost, but huge.” Branwen explained.

“A date?” I asked. Branwen shot me a confused look.

“A what?” he asked.

“A date, it’s a desert fruit that grows on trees. It’s supposed to be pretty good, but I haven’t tried one yet.” I said thoughtfully. “Great find; let’s buy some and try them while we look for Aladdin.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sora grinned. Now that we knew what we were looking for, it didn’t take us long to zero in on the fruit in question.

“There! That’s it.” Branwen said, pointing it out. The seller looked up in surprise, before anticipation crossed his face.

“Welcome, welcome! I see you are here to sample my wares?” he asked with a grin. Sora nodded.

“Yeah. How much munny is a bag of dates?” he asked. The seller’s grin only widened.

“Why that my good boy is 16 munny a pound!” he said cheerfully. Sora nodded and dutifully handed over the munny, and was handed a bag of dates in return. “Pleasure doing business with you!”

“Yeah, you too.” I agreed. As we left, Sora opened the bag and began to pass the dates around. Once I had one, I immediately bit down into it. It honestly tasted like what I imagined a carameled raisin would taste like, not that I’d ever had one. Or thought about having one for that matter. 

“Wait, you guys, you haven’t taken the pits out yet.” Iago said, stopping me from taking a second bite.

“Huh?” Sora asked, confused.

“Dates have a great big ol’ seed in ‘em. You wanna get that out first before you eat them.” Iago explained. “Best way to do it is to cut ‘em down the long side. The pit just pops right out when you do that.” he suggested.

“Huh, okay.” I said, before frowning. “Does anyone have anything other than a keyblade to cut this with?”

Winces all around. Nope.

“Well, you could just eat around it I guess. Or just take bites down the long side and pop it out that way.” Iago mused.

“Sweet, we’ll do that.” Kairi said, before doing just that. Branwen took another bite, making a face.

“I don’t think I like this.” he said, chewing carefully before swallowing, giving the date an unhappy look.

“It’s like a caramely raisin.” I said, taking another bite. “Not my favorite, but still pretty good.”

“I don’t know what a raisin is, but dates are really sweet. Especially when dried; the more dehydrated they are, the more sugary they taste.” the parrot explained.

“Cool.” Sora said, before digging in the bag of dates again and holding one out to Iago. “Want one?”

“Sure!” Iago said, accepting the fruit happily before beginning to chow down, perched unwaveringly on one foot while eating with the other in the steady, graceful way only birds could pull off. 

“Stop! Thieeef!” A naggingly familiar voice shouted, and we turned to see none other than Abu being chased by the turbaned guy from the start of the Aladdin movie - the one who’d told the story of the genie in the lamp.

In a heartbeat, Aladdin came darting by. He only spared the time to wave and say, “Hi Sora!” before continuing his pursuit of his friend.

“Come back here!” the turbaned guy howled, chasing after the pair at a much slower pace.

“I’m guessing that’s Aladdin?” I asked dryly.

“Eh? Yeah, how’d you know? I thought you’d never met.” Iago asked.

“He knew Sora.” I shrugged, earning a squawk of indignation from Iago as the motion unbalanced him. “Sorry!”

“Well yup, that’s Aladdin. Now come on, it looked like they needed help.” Goofy said. We took off after them, catching up within a few minutes to see Aladdin had cornered Abu in a dead-end alley.

“-can’t control that furball, put a leash on him!” the turbaned man was hissing at Aladdin. I nearly did a double-take in shock as I realized that Abu was holding none other than Jafar’s lamp - where on this green earth had he gotten that?! No, better question, how had the turbaned guy gotten that?! He didn’t get his hands on it til the second Agrabah visit when he accidentally released Jafar, right? 

So then what was he doing with it now?!

“Look, I’m sorry…” Aladdin protested, before rounding on Abu. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Abu!” he said, before holding out a hand. Abu guiltily handed over the lamp, which Aladdin returned to the merchant.

“Uh, no hard feelings?” he tried. The merchant just snatched the thing out of Aladdin’s hands, before giving a loud harumph as he stormed off. A chill went down my spine; we needed to get that thing away from him before he unleashed Jafar early. 

“Abu!” Aladdin shouted, startling me as he rounded on his friend, who for his part flinched back nervously. Abu glanced from side to side, before his eyes fell on us and his face lit up with delight. Chattering happily, he bounced up and down before taking off in our direction, making a beeline directly for Sora.

“Someone’s popular!” I laughed as Abu chittered excitedly.

“Hey guys. Sorry about earlier. I was kinda in a hurry.” Aladdin said sheepishly, walking over toward us.

“We saw.” Kairi said with a smile, before it fell from her face. “What happened?”

“You know Abu. He couldn’t keep his paws off that lamp.” Aladdin huffed. Abu started screeching, frantically waving his arms back and forth in front of him, shaking his head and pointing off in the direction the merchant had gone.

Wait, was he trying to say-?

“No talking your way out of this one!” Aladdin scolded, making Abu hide his head under his arms. He, Sora, Donald, and Goofy started laughing, clearly used to the monkey’s antics, and I scrambled to find a way to point out that it was Jafar’s lamp when by all rights I shouldn’t even know what the thing was. Argh!

“I take it he snatches things a lot?” Branwen asked with an entertained grin on his face. Donald snorted.

“Boy does he ever!” he said, before laughing again.

“So, who are your new friends?” Aladdin asked, looking over at Kairi, Branwen, and I, before frowning as he spotted Iago on my shoulder. “Wait a mi-!”

“Wait, Aladdin! He’s a friend, sorta, I guess. I mean, he wants to apologize for what he did.” Sora stammered to explain.

“Huh. Well, I suppose if you’re looking for a fresh start…” Aladdin hummed. Iago remained silent, shaking. Wait, what?

“Iago? What’s wrong?” I asked, turning my head to him in concern. The bird really was shaking.

“Th-th-that lamp. Th-that’s- that’s Jafar’s lamp!” He wailed, and oh. Hooray, now everybody knew.

“What?!” The majority of the group shrieked in unison. Iago flinched.

“I’d recognize that thing anywhere! It’s Jafar’s lamp, I know it!” he said.

“Then we’ve gotta get that back.” I said firmly. Sora nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t know how that thing got out of the Cave of Wonders, but we gotta make sure nobody lets that guy out!” he agreed.

“Then let’s get going.” Kairi said, turning and walking out of the alley, the rest of us trailing in her wake. I took the opportunity to keep pace with Aladdin and introduce those of us he hadn’t met yet. 

“So, I’m Riku, and that’s Kairi, my sister in all but blood, and so is Sora, but brothers, you’ve already met him. And over there’s my twin brother, Branwen.” I explained, gesturing at the two. “It’s nice to meet you, even if I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Yeah, me too.” Aladdin agreed, before we returned our focus to scanning the streets for the merchant.

Luckily, said merchant wasn’t hard to track - even though he had a head start on us, his gigantic turban tower of a hat made him easy to pick out of a crowd. We saw the building he walked into and leisurely made our way over inside. Even better, the man was set up on the first floor, so bonus.

“You again? What do you want?” the merchant asked huffily. Uh oh.

“We’re here to buy that lamp.” Sora immediately said. The merchant gave him an assessing look.

“The lamp, you say? The one your furball tried to run off with?” he asked, shooting a glare at Aladdin for that one, making the man in question wince.

“Uh, yeah. How much do you want for it?” Branwen asked. The merchant frowned, making a show of thinking it over.

“Well, this lamp is rather valuable. I mean, three wishes from a genie? Who wouldn’t want that?” he said. “I’ll need something worthy of a sultan to part with this. A grand treasure fit for the palace!”

“Well, that’s just the rumor, right? We don’t know if there’s actually a genie in that lamp, or if it’s just an empty one.” I pointed out. The merchant shot me a glare.

“If you want it, that’s what you need to pay for it!” he snapped. I held my hands up in a placating gesture.

“Whoa, chill out. I was just saying.” I said tersely, before forcing myself to relax. “Okay. When you say a grand treasure, do you have something specific in mind, or do you just want us to bring you back something large and shiny? Because we don’t wanna go out there only to bring back something you won’t accept.”

“Hmm, reasonable.” the merchant said. “I’ve heard you can go into the Cave of Wonders. Bring me something back from there, and I’ll give you the lamp in exchange.”

“You got it.” Aladdin said, before turning to leave. “C’mon guys.”

“Wait.” I said, before turning back to the merchant. “The Cave of Wonders is pretty far from here. Do you mind holding the lamp until we get back? If you don’t have the lamp, you don’t get the treasure.” 

“Deal.” the merchant agreed, much to my relief. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“And you.” I said happily, before turning and joining Aladdin.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Making sure he wouldn’t sell it off while we were away.” I explained as we made our way outside and back into the bazaar. “Guess he wasn’t the one who picked it up.” I commented idly. Iago poofed out his feathers and shook himself out from where he still sat on my shoulder.

“Why’d you reckon that?” he asked curiously.

“Well, he wouldn’t be asking us to get him something from the Cave of Wonders if he’d just come back from there, right?” I asked rhetorically.

“Or he could just want a second dip but doesn’t want to brave the dangers this time around.” Kairi pointed out. I nodded.

“True.” I agreed, before turning curiously to Aladdin. “So, what’s this Cave of Wonders place exactly? Someone,” I shot a teasing glare at my adopted brother, “didn’t exactly fill us in on the way here.”

“Hey!” Sora protested, while Kairi, Branwen, Iago, and Aladdin chuckled.

“Fair enough. The Cave of Wonders is a magical, well, cave located deep in the desert wastes. It looks like the head of a giant panther made of sand when it appears, and you go inside it to get the treasures hidden within. That’s where I got the magic carpet and Genie’s lamp.” Aladdin explained. “The Cave will only open for certain people, though, which is why Jafar tried to trick me into getting Genie’s lamp for him. But Abu here nicked it back off him before he trapped us.” he said, ruffling the top of his friend’s head fondly. Abu chittered happily in response, making a prideful pose from where he was clinging to Aladdin.

“It’s a bit of a walk, so it’ll be a while before we get there.” Donald added. We fell silent as we left the city, trailing through the desert sands. I made a face. Sand was never fun, unless you were at the beach. The stuff got everywhere, and it was hot here to boot. I may have grown up in a desert but there’s a world of difference between a mountainous desert and a desert desert!

Several hours had gone by by the time we reached the Cave, and the sight of it rising out of the sands for real in front of me laid an unsettling feeling across my shoulders.

So many things that were once stories and imagination were now so very real.

“This is it!” Iago said unnecessarily, taking the opportunity to take flight from my shoulder. He wheeled around until he was facing the group. “I saw a lot of stuff when I took off from here. But there were Heartless too, so we gotta be careful!” he warned.

“There too?” Kairi asked, put out. “Can’t we go somewhere that doesn’t have Heartless for once?”

Goofy laughed. “Why, I think that kind of defeats the point, Kairi. We are trying to stop them and the Organization, after all.”

“Organization?” Aladdin asked. Branwen groaned.

“Look, we can explain while we dig through the Cave, alright? Let’s just get a move on first.” he said, before stepping in front of the Cave of Wonders. I resisted the urge to snicker when the Cave narrowed its eyes at him and he yelped in fright.

“Who dares disturb my slumber?” it demanded, and I shuddered involuntarily. I couldn’t say why, but there was just something about the Cave of Wonders’s voice that had always unnerved me. Going from a TV screen to reality just made it worse.

“U-uhh, Branwen. And Sora, Kairi, Donald, Aladdin, Goofy, and Riku too.” my twin tacked on quickly. The Cave turned its head to regard all of us, before falling silent, seemingly thinking this over. I gulped. Hadn’t it only been Aladdin who’d been able to go in? But no, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had as well. Why? Maybe it had something to do with the Heartless?

And hadn’t the treasure been forbidden to touch, anyway?!

“Intriguing…” the Cave of Wonders murmured, making me jump. “ The diamond in the rough, rough no longer, and bearers of the key.” Oh? So he - it? - knew what keyblade wielders were? The Cave swept its gaze over all of us, as though assessing our worth, before speaking again. “You may enter. There is a foulness deep inside that does not belong. Take only what you need, or else be prepared for the consequences of your greed.”

“Right.” Kairi said uneasily.

“Ah-hyuck. Thank you!” Goofy said, before leading the way down the cave’s maw.

“This place always gives me the creeps.” Donald complained.

“So, what’s this about the Organization?” Aladdin asked as we made our way down the stairs. Branwen started explaining, but I was too busy looking around to actually listen, trying to burn every sight into my memory.

I was in the freaking Cave of Wonders. The Cave of Wonders.

“...I see. Oh! This is the room I met the magic carpet in!” Aladdin said, gesturing to the piles of gold and treasures around the grand room.

“Whoa. Think any of these would make the merchant happy?” Kairi asked. Sora looked over at the piles, before shaking his head.

“No, these are just gold coins and gems and stuff. I mean, it’s really valuable, but none of it really stands out.” he said. “We should find something unique, or at least really recognizable.”

“Makes sense.” I nodded, before looking around. “I’m not seeing any Heartless here…”

“Good. I don’t want to get buried under a mountain of gold pebbles.” Branwen joked, making our group snicker. There was a certain disconnect between them and me though; to everyone else, the coins were merely gold objects. To me, it was money. Currency. Treasure rooms designed to be filled with money reduced instead to mere baubles and trinkets. 

“Pebbles.” Aladdin chuckled, shaking his head. “The farther in we go, the more valuable this stuff gets. We’ll probably find something we need in the back.” he explained.

“Sounds like a plan.” Donald agreed. We made our way through the rooms of the cave, Aladdin leading the way through rooms of treasure and fire and water. This particular hallway had water rushing up the walls like the upside-down waterfall of Hollow Bastion, a grinning gold monkey like the one Abu had accidentally triggered to bring the Cave of Wonders down on their heads in the Aladdin movie standing at the other end. Only this one was lacking a jewel, and absolutely massive to boot.

“That’s gonna be a pain to move.” Sora said, frowning at the statue.

“Yeah. But I bet this has something to do with it.” Kairi said, drawing our attention to where she stood by a floating red jewel in the shape of a square rhombus.

“Yeah, that would do it.” I snickered. Kairi grinned before swiping the gem - and of course, as soon as she did, the water suddenly began disappearing from the walls in a strange, echoing noise I can’t really describe. Just that it did not belong.

Abu chittered nervously, looking around for the danger. He wasn’t the only one, this whole situation had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

I yelped as the room started shaking, overbalancing and accidentally knocking Donald over as giant monkey statues slammed down in rows on either side of the hallway, filling up the entire corridor. These looked more like Aztec or Mayan statues, and my worries were confirmed as they began shooting Blizzards at us out of their mouths.

“What now?!” Kairi yelped, jumping back from a chunk of ice trying to land on her head. Even worse, Heartless were beginning to appear, more than willing to bash our heads in.

“Isn’t it obvious? Get the gem to that monkey, we’ll keep these things off you!” Aladdin said, batting away a Heartless with his sword as though the monster was merely a baseball. A baseball I was happy to launch out of bounds with an Aerora.

Kairi clutched the gem to her chest as she bolted down the hall, the rest of us spreading out to make sure we kept the Heartless’s attention on us instead of her. At one point, Donald had to fire a hasty Firaga to blast away a pair of Blizzards that would’ve pinned Kairi, but she quickly made her way to the statue from there and all but slammed the gem into its hands.

The Blizzards stopped falling, a sound like a deep gust of wind from below filling the hallway as white fog started blowing out along the walls, completely covering them in white before fading away. The monkey machines stood silent, no longer firing their barrage of ice missiles. Even better, the monkey statue lit up with a bright glow before falling apart from the bottom up like so much fine golden sand, leaving the way open.

“Yes!” Sora cheered, before whacking a Heartless trying to sneak up on him on the head with the Kingdom Key. “Let’s finish this!”

Without the distraction of having to dodge the Blizzard barrage, we were able to mop up the remaining Heartless pretty easily. From there, Aladdin led us through another two rooms and across a bridge, before coming into another grand room. It was almost like an entry hall of some sort, filled with piles of gold coins, gems, and artifacts in towers almost reaching the ceiling. Gold coins trickled from giant cups held up by even more giant monkey statues - and what was with this place and monkeys? - embedded in the walls, the gold clinking to the ground like a light rain.

“Look at that! That oughta satisfy the merchant, right?” Branwen asked, pointing to one of the artifacts at the end of the room. It honestly reminded me of the Struggle trophy, though this was much gaudier, holding gleaming jewels as big as my fist.

“Yeah. And if he gets himself robbed, that’s his problem.” I chuckled, going over and picking up the statue, wincing at its weight. “Figures this is heavy...all this gold is not light.”

“That’s definitely something that wouldn’t look out of place in the treasure vault in the palace.” Aladdin agreed, a small grin of amusement on his face as he watched me awkwardly carry the statue down. “Need a hand?”

“Nah, I got this. We’re gonna need hands free for any Heartless we find on the way out.” I pointed out, and then as though the universe decided to prove my point, the room darkened in an unnatural shadow. “My point exactly.”

“Oh come on.” Branwen groaned, materializing Midnight Blue as floating lantern Heartless began to appear around us. “Just once, can we not get ambushed by Heartless when we’re trying to do something?”

“Keep them off Riku; we can’t let them steal that treasure.” Goofy ordered, and everyone closed ranks around me.

“Uh, guys, I could just put thi-”

“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not chase these guys down if they manage to make off with that thing.” Branwen said. “Just hang onto it, we got this.”

“Okay.” I agreed, and watched as everyone exploded into action. I felt like a sitting duck, just standing here while everyone else was fighting around me, but there were seven of us and it’s not like we weren’t used to fighting Heartless. And worse case scenario I could just drop the thing and join in the fight.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes, though it felt a lot longer, for the last Heartless to be destroyed, returning the room to its normal brightness.

“Whew. I almost got knocked into one of those treasure piles there.” Sora said, giving the thing a wary glance. “That would not have been fun.”

“No it would not have.” Aladdin agreed, before turning to look at me. “You alright Riku?”

“Just fine. Not a scratch on me.” I said, before readjusting my grip on the statue. “We ready to get Jafar’s lamp back?”

“Hold on. I wanna bring something out too.” Donald said, gleefully rubbing his hands together.

My eyes widened as Aladdin yelped, “Donald! Didn’t you hear what the Cave of Wonders said?!”

“Well yeah, but it ain’t for me! It’s for Daisy!” Donald protested. Huh. I wondered what made him so different than in the time before, where his desire for the treasure here was for himself alone. 

I wasn’t complaining though. It was nice.

“It’s not greedy if I’m getting it for someone else, is it? I mean, that’s what we’re doing now.” Donald finished, looking at us as though daring us to tell him otherwise.

“That’s true…” Kairi said thoughtfully. “Think there’s something she’d like in here?”

“Probably. Just gimme a minute to search okay?” Donald said, before heading over to one of the treasure piles.

“Just hurry up, the sooner we can get Jafar’s lamp the better. If that guy gets out he’ll destroy Agrabah!” Aladdin warned.

“I’ll hurry, I’ll hurry!” Donald complained, before disappearing between two treasure piles. I set the statue down with a sigh of relief, getting looks from the others.

“I’m not carrying this thing if we’re just gonna be standing around waiting for Donald.” I said. “It’s heavy.”

“I bet.” Goofy said sympathetically. I heard a distant ah-ha! before Donald came back into view, a smug look on his face and a rather tasteful jade bracelet in his hand.

“Daisy’ll really like this!” he said happily, stuffing it away into his pockets. I have no idea where he found it given where we were in the cave but it was definitely a nice bracelet. 

“I’m sure she will.” Kairi agreed, grinning. I bent over and picked up the trophy, before looking at everyone else.

“I dunno about you guys, but I’m ready to get out of here.” I said, making Sora laugh.

“Right behind you.” my little brother grinned.

“That’s not a bad idea.” Goofy said, getting our attention. “Riku should be in the middle of the group, just in case there are more Heartless around.”

“Makes sense. Now c’mon. The clock’s ticking.” Aladdin said, stepping forward and taking point with Abu. Kairi and Goofy followed after, with Sora and Donald trailing behind me. With two long range fighters in the front and back, we’d be well positioned to take out any Heartless no matter what direction they came at us from.

Thankfully, since we were just retracing our steps, there weren’t any Heartless left for us to defeat. Once we were outside again, I set the trophy down on the sands before taking a breather, not even caring about the sand I was no doubt getting in my pants by sitting down. It was already everywhere anyway.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned to look at the Cave of Wonders as it began to speak.

“The darkness is gone, and your duty done. You have well earned your just rewards.” the Cave said, before collapsing; clumps of sand falling to the ground as the great cat fell apart, returning to the sands as though nothing had ever been there.

“...Rewards! He said rewards!” Donald crowed, before jumping up and pumping a fist into the air. “I told you it wasn’t greedy to get something for Daisy!”

Kairi laughed. “I guess that’s right.”

“Yeah.” Branwen chuckled, before joining me on the sands with a relieved sigh. “Whew. Talk about intense.” he said, looking up at the four who had been here before. “How did you guys do this the first time?”

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin just looked at each other before Aladdin shrugged.

“I mean, it was just as intense the first time. There’s no real getting used to the Cave of Wonders.” Aladdin said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as Abu clambered up to the top of his head and screeched, frantically nodding his head up and down in agreement.

“I’d say.” Kairi grumbled, before picking up the trophy. “I’ll carry it this time.”

“Fine by me.” I said, before getting to my feet and brushing the sand off my pants. “So, we ready to go?”

“Yeah. Let’s get this thing to the merchant so we can get Jafar’s lamp somewhere safe.” Aladdin agreed, before turning and leading the way across the sands back to Agrabah. Which was great, because we were far enough away from the city that you couldn’t even see it anymore and I did not fancy wandering lost around the desert lugging that stupid statue around.

~*~

When we made it back to the building where the merchant had been peddling his goods, it was to see it abandoned, and said merchant nowhere in sight.

“Oh no.” I breathed as everyone looked around.

“He’s not here anymore.” Aladdin said, before scowling. “So where can he be?”

“Maybe he just went out to go to the bathroom?” Branwen asked. I shook my head.

“He wouldn’t have packed everything up if he had.” I pointed out.

“Stop your whining and hand it over!” A muffled voice demanded from back outside the door; one that was recognizably Pete’s.

“Ohh no! I’m trading it for treasure. This lamp is going to bring me riches!” the merchant protested.

“Hurry!” Branwen yelped, barging out the door with the rest of us hot on his heels. We were just in time to see Pete chasing down the merchant through the streets, in the direction of the palace.

“Wait, I can’t run with this thing!” Kairi said, clearly frustrated. To our surprise, Branwen swooped in and grabbed it.

“Lemme take it. I’ll catch up; you guys go stop Pete from getting his grubby mitts on that lamp!” he explained. Kairi nodded, letting Branwen take it, and we all bolted through the busy streets after them. I wasn’t worried; Branwen could take care of himself, and if anyone tried to take the treasure off him I had no doubt they’d be walking away empty handed - that is, if they weren’t laid out unconscious first.

We made good time, though there was a lot of pushing and shoving involved. Pete chased the merchant all the way into the palace’s front courtyard, and by the time we got in after them, it was to see the rather comical sight of Pete chasing the merchant around in circles.

“Lamp hog!”

“Go away!”

“Gotcha!” Pete said triumphantly, holding the much shorter merchant down with one hand while holding up the lamp far higher than the man could ever hope to reach.

“No fair!” the merchant wailed, struggling against Pete’s grip.

“Heh heh, I win!” Pete crowed, at least until Iago shot forward and plucked the lamp from his fingers. It took Pete a few seconds to realize what had happened, before he and the merchant turned to look at the parrot fleeing with Jafar’s lamp clutched tightly in his beak.

“Nice one, Iago!” Sora cheered.

“Way to go!” Aladdin added, pumping a fist into the air.

“Don’t drop it!” Donald warned him unnecessarily, before Goofy yelped.

“Look! Behind you!” he warned, and Iago turned his head to see both Pete and the merchant haring after him. I realized that as he was dodging their grasping hands, he wasn’t paying attention to where he was flying, and swiftly transformed and bolted after them, much to Aladdin’s shock. Iago jinked the pair into the wall, but while snickering at their misfortune hit the wall perpendicular to that one, falling back to land on the grass with a thump, stunned. I lunged forward, picking up the handle of the lamp in my mouth before bolting back to the others.

“Thanks, Riku.” Donald said, accepting the lamp from me.

“What?! No fair!” the merchant protested, having recovered his wits first. “First your monkey, now your dog? Thief!”

“We’re not thieves! You’ll get your payment as soon as we deal with the actual thief!” Kairi snapped, now thoroughly annoyed.

“Rrrrgh, why you-!” Pete snarled, before stomping on foot on the ground. “I’ve had it with you! Always gettin’ in my way. Well I’m tired of it! Hear-!”

“I’m hooooome!!” a familiar voice shouted, the ground somehow shaking under the weight of his voice. The Genie swooped down, coming to a halt in the courtyard before diving at Pete. “Al! It’s been eons!” he said, slamming Pete into a hug. “Al, you princely little muffin, you!” he added, before teleporting in a burst of pink light to hover above Pete’s shoulder. “Cosmic travel can get so lonely without a friend.” he bemoaned, before slinging an arm around Pete. “To think I left you forlorn and Genie-less...oh, the humanity!” he wailed, unintentionally shaking Pete back and forth before the man slipped out of his hold.

“Should we-?” Aladdin started, before I interrupted him.

<No. This is hilarious.> I snickered, which as it turns out sounds much the same as a wolf as it does a human. Genie, meanwhile, continued his reunion with the wrong person, much to our delight.

“Hey, Al, you’ve been puttin’ on weight?” he asked, inflating himself dramatically to emphasize his point, before teleporting with a bang back to a very dizzy Pete’s side, back to normal. “Aw, of course, what am I saying? You’re living at the palace, now.”

“I wouldn’t get that fat.” Aladdin grumbled, shooting Kairi a glare when she started giggling quietly before his offended facade cracked, and he started giggling as well.

In a burst of sound and pink magic, a second Genie appeared next to the first, clutching his hands together and making fluttery eyes at the original. 

“Alaaadin!” he said, before the original clapped the clone in a hug. 

“Jasmine!” he cheered, before a couple fireworks went off in the sky above us, one of which was, of course, a large pink heart.

“Is he...always like that?” Kairi couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh yeah. That’s Genie.” Donald said with a smirk, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

With a burst of magic, the Genie’s clone disappeared while Genie himself appeared at Pete’s side.

“I can just picture it…” he said, slapping Pete on the back - which knocked him flat on the ground - before teleporting further away, frowning. “Wait, tell me. Am I being a pest? Just a big blue pest?” he asked, bouncing side to side like a blow up balloon as emphasis to his words, which made me just lose it. Which of course started a cascade effect, cause when one person laughs, everyone starts laughing, and soon the whole group was howling with laughter.

“And who are you, hu-?” The Genie asked huffily, whirling around to have a go at us, before his jaw dropped at finally noticing Aladdin there with our group. Genie’s eyes widened, and he immediately whirled around to look at Pete, who was picking himself up off the ground, and then at Aladdin, who was currently doubled over and clutching his sides, laughing too hard to speak.

“...Oops!” Genie said cheerfully, completely disregarding Pete in favor of Aladdin, which only served to further infuriate Pete.

“I’ll teach you to make a fool out of me!” he howled. “I’m finishin’ all of you mugs off right now!” Before any of us could react, Pete raised his fist before slamming it into the ground, setting off tremors of his own. Though these weren’t caused by Pete, but rather by the Heartless he just summoned: a giant of water erupting from beneath a cart in the corner - making the merchant squeak and run behind a bazaar stand, so that’s what’d happened to the guy. My attention was quickly redirected to more important things as the shrubs lining the road on one side burst into flames, a giant of fire appearing next.

And of course, in an example of comically bad timing, Branwen kicked open the doors to the courtyard, before freezing in place at what he saw.

“Aww, nuggets.” he griped, tossing the statue aside before pulling out Midnight Blue, ready to fight. We charged, each going after different targets, and I found myself fighting the fire Heartless with Aladdin and Donald, not having bothered to switch back to being human before the fight.

It was clear that while Aladdin dearly wanted an explanation for that, in the middle of a battle was no time to ask. Between getting nailed repeatedly by several elemental magics and stabbed by various pointy objects the Heartless stood no chance, and imploded into dark smoke. Not that we got out of this unscathed; we were all sporting burns of varying degrees along with bruises and gashes from where we hadn’t dodged a staff or elemental attack in time.

“Whew. Here, take these.” Kairi said, before passing some potions around. Everyone who needed them all accepted them with various murmurs of thanks, downing the blessed healing potions. I looked over at them, curious; how would I drink a potion as a wolf? I didn’t have opposable thumbs, nor the same anatomy as a human throat and mouth that let us suck liquids down. Hmm.

Well, I’d figure that one out later; a Cure was good enough for now.

Genie laughed, breaking me out of my train of thought as I cast my spell, before catching Aladdin in a hug. “All right!” he cheered, before giving Aladdin a thumbs-up, while he happily returned. 

“Looks like Pete took the opportunity to take off.” Sora grumbled, before the magic carpet suddenly dove down to circle Genie, Iago and Abu riding on its back.

“Hey, you’re okay!” Sora said, grinning at the trio.

“Yeah. You guys still got the lamp?” Iago asked worriedly. We all turned to Donald, who reached into his pocket and pulled it out.

“Yup! Right here.” he said. 

That’s about when the merchant came out of hiding. “H-hey! I need payment for that!” the merchant protested weakly, likely shell-shocked from the battle. I winced; I’d completely forgotten about that.

“I threw it over there, so...good, it’s still there.” Branwen said, pointing at the statue lying on its side near the entrance gates. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Yes! You too!” the merchant said happily, grabbing the statue that was literally taller than he was, before pelting out the gates, likely wanting to leave us and our chaos behind.

Genie watched him go, before looking at Iago, back to us, and then back to Iago again, scratching his head.

“I’m missing something, aren’t I?”

“Yep!” Kairi laughed. “We’ve got some catching up to do. Right, guys?” she asked, looking over at Sora, Donald, and Goofy pointedly.

“Right.” Sora said sheepishly.

“But first, let's get Jafar’s lamp locked up somewhere safe.” Aladdin said, taking the black lamp from Donald. “We can’t have him coming out and destroying Agrabah.”

“Definitely not.” Genie agreed, before looking at the magic carpet and its occupants. “Soooo...the little birdie’s on our side then?”

“Yep. Turned over a new feather and everything.” Iago said, puffing out his chest with pride. “I’m the reason why these guys even knew Jafar’s lamp wasn’t still in the Cave of Wonders!”

“Yeah, and we’re grateful for it.” Aladdin agreed. Genie clapped his hands together, clearly pleased.

“Alright! Then let’s go - and your little dog too. Oh, c’mere you cute little fuzzball!” Genie said, much to my horror, as he snatched me from the ground in a crushing hug.

<Wait- I’m-!> I tried to protest, but squeaked as Genie’s hug grew tighter. 

“Oh, such a little cutie pie! And look at you, all big and strong - you must be a good boy, huh?” he added, swinging me up high in a bizarre rendition of Rafiki presenting Simba. “Beating up those big bad Heartless?” Genie asked, dropping me in favor of summoning a huge bone from nowhere and flinging it over to land by the far wall. “Go get it boy! Go get it!”

<I’m...not a...dog!> I wheezed, fur and fangs vanishing as my darkness receded, standing once again on two feet. Genie just gaped at me while my friends were laughing in the background, the traitors.

“No, technically, you’re a wolf.” Branwen snickered, to which I shot him a glare for it.

Genie gaped, before shaking himself out of it and helping me off the ground. “I’m so sorry! I honestly thought- but nevermind that! I haven’t seen a shapeshifter around in a long time!”

“It’s fine. Just please don’t do that again.” I said.

“Pinky promise.” Genie said, extending his pinky finger. With a chuckle, I locked mine with his and we shook on it, the sheer size difference adding to the hilarity of the situation.

“Alright, let’s go. The sooner we get this resolved the better.” Aladdin said, trying really hard not to laugh, before turning and opening the doors to the palace.

I politely ignored the snickers echoing through the halls. Though if anyone else tried to play fetch with me I’d fetch them Midnight Blue to the face.

As Aladdin led us through winding halls we took care of introductions, with most of the conversation being us filling Genie in on what happened since we’d gotten here. After going down several flights of stairs, we came out in the dungeons Aladdin had been imprisoned in a year ago. Yikes, that had to be bringing back bad memories. At least he hadn’t been locked up here all that long, but still. Yikes.

Instead of going into one of the cells, Aladdin brought us to a side room with nothing but a stone casket inside. I- actually hold up, wasn’t this- this looked like the room in that cutscene of the merchant releasing Jafar! Is that what happened - had he sold it to Sora and co. in canon and then come to steal the lamp back so he could sell it off again, the greedy little swine?!

“We’ll lock the thing in here. Nobody should be getting it out without getting through the guards and knowing the layout of the prison.” Aladdin said, nodding to himself. I frowned.

“Actually, wait. Wouldn’t this be the first place someone would look? I mean, if something’s locked up and chained wouldn’t that be the first place you’d look for a dangerous item?” I wondered. I don’t know how the merchant had found out where Jafar’s lamp was to steal it back, but the fact of the matter is that he did, which meant this needed a better hiding spot. 

Everyone glanced at each other, uneasy. “Well, then what do you suggest we do? We can’t leave Jafar’s lamp unguarded and unprotected.” Aladdin said. I shook my head.

“Not unguarded and unprotected. Just hidden in an unconventional place.” I clarified, before eying the casket thoughtfully. “Is there a floor below this? Cause if not, if there’s a way to remove one of the floor stones under that thing we can bury it there in the dirt and lock up the casket or coffin or whatever that is so that people think it’s actually in there when it’s not.” I suggested.

“Well, there’s just cracked bedrock and clay underneath, not dirt, but I think that’ll work.” Aladdin said, a smile beginning to spread on his face.

“Great idea pal!” Genie said, before rubbing his hands together. “And don’t worry, I can take care of that little detail in a snap!”

“Thanks, Genie.” Sora said gratefully as Genie did just that, moving the casket aside while one of the large paved stones underneath it vanished, revealing that he’d dug out a hole about half a foot deep in the cracked rock and clay below with it. 

“Nice one. That looks painful to try and dig through.” I noted.

“Could you even dig through that as a wolf?” Goofy wondered. I tilted my head, thinking.

“I...don’t actually know. The clay, probably. But it would suck. And probably tear up my poor paws.” I mused. Aladdin was already depositing the lamp inside the hole as we spoke, before Genie snapped again and the missing paving stone was replaced in the floor like it had never been removed at all. And there we go, no more Jafar problem. 

I smirked. Ha - I’d like to see that stupid merchant thief try and find this now.  

“Right. Now let’s get this casket all locked up.” Kairi said with a grin. Genie shot her an answering one, before with a snap of his fingers did just that.

“Rather large for a lamp, isn’t it?” Branwen asked, assessing the large stone rectangle. It could easily fit two of us inside, it was that big.

“Yeah. It’s not meant for holding items.” Aladdin said, but didn’t elaborate. I’m not sure I wanted him to elaborate.

“Fair enough.” Branwen grinned. “Let’s get out of here, I’ve had enough of dungeons for one day.”

Donald and Goofy laughed, and it was with light spirits that we headed back outside of the palace. When we pushed open the doors to the outer courtyard, Jasmine looked up from where she had been talking with Iago and grinned at our arrival.

“Guys! I heard from Iago what happened. I’m glad you were able to take care of Jafar before he got loose.” she said.

“Yeah, me too.” Sora agreed. “Aladdin helped us...wait, where’s Aladdin?” he asked, looking around in confusion. He was right - Aladdin wasn’t with us.

“He was just in the dungeon with us! It’s not like he would’ve gotten lost!” Donald said.

“But what would be so important that he’d-?” Iago started, only to be interrupted by a shout from Aladdin.

“Abu!” he howled, chasing the monkey outside of the palace - who had Donald’s present for Daisy!

“Hey! That’s mine!” Donald shouted, before charging at Abu. Pinned between him and Aladdin, Abu dodged around Donald and avoided Kairi’s grasping hands before getting snagged by Goofy.

“Got him, ah-hyuck.” he said, chuckling as Abu began thrashing wildly in his grip, screeching all the while. Donald stomped over and snatched the jade bracelet out of Abu’s hands, harumphing. Suddenly, the bracelet lit up before light exploded from it, making Donald drop it. Thankfully, the thing had started floating by then, so there was no harm done there.

“Huh. Wonder what world that’s connected to?” Branwen asked, before summoning Midnight Blue and unlocking the keyhole.

“What do you mean?” Aladdin asked, a little confused.

“When the worlds were restored the previous gateways were sealed and vanished. But the worlds are all connected, so new pathways between them developed.” Kairi explained, while Donald was snatching Daisy’s present out of the air now that it was no longer glowing. “Something in one world is tied to another, and unlocking the keyhole opens up the connection to that other world.”

“Huh.” Jasmine commented, mulling this over. “I guess that means you have to go then?”

“Yeah. We’ve got an Organization to stop and a king to find.” Sora said.

“Organization?”

“I’ll explain after.” Aladdin promised Jasmine, before turning back to us. “Take care, you guys. From what Jasmine has told me, it sounds pretty dangerous out there.”

“Yeah. But we can handle it.” I reassured him. “It’s just like what happened with Jafar; you wouldn’t just sit around and let him take over, right?”

Donald did a double-take. “Wait, we haven’t told you what happened here!”

Nuggets. “I know enough to know that Jafar’s evil. Heck, you guys specifically said that if the man got out he’d destroy Agrabah.” I pointed out, my heart almost beating out of my chest in my panic. “And it’s not like you guys would just sit around and let him wreak havoc.”

“That’s a good point, ah-hyuck.” Goofy said. “We’ll fill you in on the specifics on the way to the next world.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Branwen nodded. 

“We’ll be seeing you guys later, once everything’s done and over with.” Sora told Aladdin, Jasmine, Iago, and Genie. “And if things go well, we’ll have three new friends to introduce you to.”

“Looking forward to it.” Jasmine said sincerely, a small smile on her face. “You’re welcome here any time.”

“See you later.” Kairi said, waving goodbye, before turning for the gates. The rest of us followed, more than ready to get back to the ship, and get some dang explanations while we were at it.

I really had to stop putting my foot in my mouth, too. One of these days I wouldn’t have an excuse to cover my butt with, and then I’d be screwed.

Chapter Text

Once we’d gotten back to the gummi ship, we all gathered around inside where it was air-conditioned to hear the tale. And dang, what a tale it was. I mean, I knew it had been, but to be sitting here, listening to my brother and our friends telling us what all had happened to them that year...jeez. The kidnappings of the Princesses of Heart, sealing the keyholes, Maleficent, Ansem’s research; all while scouring the stars for Kairi, Mickey, and I, desperately praying we were safe. That they’d find us, and we’d be reunited again.

It’s one thing to know it happened to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, or to watch it through a screen. It’s another thing entirely to have it happen to your brother and friends.

“-And then Kairi woke up, in a nightdress of all things-” Donald was saying, before Kairi giggled. 

“We all were in our pajamas. Destiny Islands fell during our sleepover, remember?” She said, the grin falling from her face at the reminder. 

“Yeah, ‘daddy’s little princess’ was far more accurate than any of us could’ve known.” I snickered, trying to lighten the mood. It worked, as the whole group dissolved into soft laughter.

“After that, well, we beat up Ansem like the loser he was, and when he opened the Door to Darkness seeking the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, I pointed out that if there was darkness, there must be light - right in time for said light to blow him to pieces.” Sora said, sniggering. “His face was great.”

“I bet it was.” I said, smiling softly before it too fell from my face. That was new; did Sora not think Kingdom Hearts was light? Then again Kingdom Hearts in Three had been spitting out darkness as well as light, so…huh. Maybe it really was both. I’m…not really sure how to feel about that, to be honest.

As for Sora, he was quick to notice my rapidly darkening mood and immediately changed the topic. 

“Anyway, so Riku and the king were in the Realm of Darkness on one side of the Door to Darkness, and with us still in the Realm of Light on the other we were able to get the doors shut from both sides before sealing them. After that, we were separated until Riku and the king were able to rejoin us at Castle Oblivion.” Sora said, before giving me a quizzical look. “Actually, how did you two get out of the Realm of Darkness?”

“Mickey found a card somehow, don’t ask me how, and was able to follow the connection it had to my heart. Why there was a connection, I also don’t know, but it got him out and that’s all I care about.” I said, before frowning. “As for how I got out, I honestly have no clue. One minute I was walking with Mickey, and the next, it was like I’d walked into a haze, and next thing I knew I was waking up in Castle Oblivion. Which freaked me out, since I didn’t remember falling asleep and Mickey was nowhere in sight. Then DiZ showed up and gave me a stupid card, and you all know the story from there.”

“Yeah.” Kairi sighed, leaning back. “That’s just...crazy.”

“You’re telling me.” Donald grumbled, and we all laughed. 

As getting everyone up to speed had taken a good couple of hours, it was late enough that we decided to call it a day and flew back to Hollow Bastion to book a pair of rooms in the Shady Rest B&B for the night. Kairi, Branwen, Sora, and I happily curled up together in a sleep pile on the bed, enjoying the comforting feeling of the others being so close.

We’d done so many sleepovers like this...it really brought back memories. I’d say of a time when things were simpler, but they really hadn’t been, at least for me. I’d always known what was out there, and what was coming.

Sometimes, the weight of everything on my shoulders made me want to crawl into a hole and have a breakdown over it all. But then I remembered my siblings, and my friends, and I knew that whatever happened, I wouldn’t be alone. Come hell or high water, we’d be facing this together.

In the morning, I was happy to wake without having had any nightmares, especially not one on the level of Aqua and falling apart. That was just...no.

After a quick breakfast, we all piled back into the gummi ship, and made our way to the new world. We found ourselves in a darkened, foggy forest filled with barren, lifeless trees and brown grasses and mosses. There was no greenery to be seen here.

“Sheesh. This is creepy.” Branwen said, before looking at me and yelping. “Riku! You’re a ghost!”

“What?!” I howled, checking myself over. Yep, I was a ghost: faintly blue, translucent, glowing, and all. Thankfully, I hadn’t been changed to what I used to look like. That would have been...awkward. Very awkward.

“Well, it could’ve been worse. I could’ve been a zombie, or a mummy like Donald.” I said teasingly. Even if there was only the bandages and nothing save his head and legs underneath them - which was kind of freaky, seeing empty space where there should be none, I’m not gonna lie. Donald just put his hands on his hips, shooting me a dirty look while trying to hide a smile.

“Hey! I make a great mummy!” he protested.

“Does that...does that hurt?” Branwen asked, wincing as he took in Goofy’s form. “The nail in your head, I mean?”

“Nope! This big ol’ thing doesn’t actually go into my head, it just looks like it.” Goofy reassured us, and I let out a sigh of relief. Wait, did I even have to breathe like this?

I might as well find out once we got moving, right?

Meanwhile, Sora was surveying himself with a big grin on his face. “Well, I know I’m a vampire-”

“In some really odd clothes.” Kairi snickered. Sora rolled his eyes.

“-in some really odd clothes, but look, I even have the fangs! See?” Sora said, tapping his upper canines with a finger to show them off.

“Nice.” Branwen said, admiring his new form. Goofy frowned.

“You know, I would have pegged Riku for being the werewolf.” Goofy said, looking between Branwen and I.

“Maybe it’s because the magic figured Riku was wolf enough already.” Branwen suggested with a strained laugh. He knew why. My whole family did. “The ears and tail are gonna take some getting used to though.” he added, frowning as his tail flicked back and forth, apparently not entirely under his control.

“Yeah, they really do. You just gotta make sure you don’t ignore it, and actively do things with it. That’ll build up the muscle memory and help you better control it.” I advised.

“Speaking from experience?” Donald teased. I just rolled my eyes, a teasing lilt to my voice.

“What do you think?” 

“You know, I wouldn’t have expected to be a witch, but it’s pretty cool.” Kairi said, admiring her clothing and doing a little twirl. “I’ve even got a staff to complete the outfit!” she giggled, summoning her weapon.

“That’s true.” Goofy chuckled.

“So, anyone know where we are?” Branwen wondered.

“This is Halloween Town, no doubt about it.” Sora said, before frowning. “I wonder why the way here was tied to Daisy’s bracelet?”

“I mean, maybe it’s referring to Sally and Jack? They’re dating too. Or maybe there's a priceless artifact involved.” I mused.

“Well, we won’t know just standing around here. Come on, let’s get going. Halloween Town is right over here.” Sora said, leading the way. Now that we were moving, I took the opportunity to start holding my breath. 

It was a short five minute walk before the forest gave way to a graveyard - which I really hope was just decorative or at least belonged to the various undead I knew lived here - before we arrived at the town proper, a scarecrow with a sign reading ‘Halloween Town’ stuck on its pumpkin head standing as the signpost for the town.

Wait frick I still hadn’t breathed.

“I don’t have to breathe.” I wheezed, eyes wide with horror. Everyone whirled around to face me, shocked.

“What?!” Sora, Branwen, and Kairi yelped in unison.

“I’ve been holding my breath since we started walking, just to test it out, and uh, kinda forgot?” I winced. “But yeah, I don’t have to breathe and it’s seriously creeping me out here.”

“Well, that’s kind of the point of the magic changing us to blend in, right?” Donald said nonchalantly, getting our attention. “Of course ghosts don’t breathe.”

“Oh...kay.” I squeaked, still a little shell-shocked because not breathing.  

“Don’t worry Riku, you’ll be fine. And you’ll be back to normal once we leave, ah-hyuck. Just like Donald - he’s all bandages and stuff now, but he won’t be after we leave.” Goofy tried to reassure me, which was nice, but not what the problem was.

This was hitting way the heck too close to home for me.

Branwen and Sora both took my hands - a comforting gesture that reminded me that I wasn’t a ghost, not really. That I was still here, alive, despite all appearances to the contrary.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine!” Sora grinned, though we both knew he really meant me. “Really, Halloween Town is pretty cool. And Jack’s pretty great, you guys will like him.” he added, addressing Branwen, Kairi, and I now.

“Yeah, even if Halloooo...wha?” Donald trailed off, gaping at something over to the right. We all turned to see what he was looking at.

“Are those...Christmas lights?” Branwen gaped. “Orange Christmas lights? Orange??”

“Well, those sure aren’t supposed to be here.” Goofy frowned.

“Wait, it’s not Christmas lights in Halloween Town that’s throwing you, but the fact that they’re orange is?” Kairi asked, a grin spreading across her face as my twin brother spluttered incoherently, trying and failing to shape his protests into words.

Sudden barking drew our attention elsewhere as a legless tailless ghost dog that honestly looked like someone had stuck a dog’s head under a sheet blanket floated over to us, startling Donald and Goofy in the process, nose glowing a bright orange and panting happily. He was smaller than my wolf form, being about a medium sized dog.

Which wasn’t a surprise. Wolves were, uh...kinda large. 

“Hey, it’s Zero!” Sora cheered. “How’ve you been, boy?” 

Instead of responding, Zero turned and floated off down the road at a brisk trot, or what passed for one anyway, given that he was floating.

Which I couldn’t do. Huh. Interesting.

“I wonder what’s going on. Better take a look.” Sora said, before leading the way through town. It wasn’t long before we reached a center square of some sort, complete with a bloodied guillotine (please tell me that thing hadn’t been used) and a fountain of green I-don’t-want-to-know sludge.

And also, a large wooden ramp/landing pad standing front and center and completely out of place.

“Wait, what’s that for?” Kairi asked, a little confused and on edge. I didn’t blame her - I know this was Disney but this kind of place was freaky okay? Even if it was likely almost entirely just decorations because Disney.

I hadn’t seen the Nightmare Before Christmas, though, so I couldn’t be sure. But still. Disney. If it had been I’m sure there was a PG reason for it.

The sound of jingling bells drew our attention skyward to where Jack was riding a spookified imitation of Santa’s sleigh, for lack of a better description. It was clear he’d pieced it together from what Halloween supplies he had; a coffin serving as the body of the sleigh, a giant trash bin as the bag of toys for whatever reason, and three skeletal reindeer pulling the sleigh.

Huh. I wonder where he managed to find those.

As I expected, Jack used the landing ramp to come to a stop, carelessly dropping the rope reigns before getting to his feet.

“Sora, Donald, Goofy!” Jack said happily, waving at us in greeting. “Who’re all your friends?”

“These are my adopted siblings, Kairi, Branwen, and Riku!” Sora explained.

“This the Riku and Kairi you were looking for?” Jack asked.

“Yeah.” Sora nodded.

“Good! What about your king? Did you find him too?” Jack asked, turning to Donald and Goofy.

“Yep, but he’s busy.” Donald answered. “We’re on our own mission right now.”

“Ooh, how exciting! Oh, I almost forgot!” Jack said, facepalming, before beaming widely at us. “Merry Christmas!”

...Right.

“Wait, don’t you mean ‘Happy Halloween?’” Sora asked, confused as to why the Pumpkin King was suddenly spouting off a Christmas greeting.

“Of course! Halloween greetings from Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king!” Jack said, before suddenly striking a pose, getting right up in our faces with a scowl and sneering grin on his face.

I’m ashamed to say that I flinched back. Stupid jump scare tactics. At least I could take comfort in the fact that I wasn’t the only one who did.

Straightening, Jack said, “Forgive me. I’m in a Christmas mood.”

“You’re...why?” Kairi questioned.

“Well, you see, I’m running the show again this year - but I need Sandy Claws’s blessing, so I’m off to Christmas Town!”

Wait, that answered none of-

“Sandy Claws?” Branwen asked, baffled.

“I think he means Santa Claus.” Goofy explained. Branwen made an ‘ah’ noise of comprehension as I turned my attention back to Jack.

Jack got up on the edge of the fountain, before gesturing widely at the entire square. “Aren’t these decorations wonderful? This year Halloween Town’s going to handle Christmas too! But first, we have to visit Sally. She’s working on something no self-respecting Sandy Claws can do without. Come along - I’ll show you.”

Right, the red Santa suit. Because that was the most easily distinguishable part of the man. No seriously - without the suit, he’d just be an old man. With it, it was clear it was Santa Claus.

“A Halloween Town Christmas…” Sora mused. I winced; the bloodied guillotine right in front of us, the creepy mockery of toys - though feisty pets were a thing back on Earth, and popular at that, so maybe he was onto something. Still. The skeletal reindeer turning their heads and laughing at us was a bit much.

Donald and Goofy moaned in terror, shaking like a pair of newborn fawns, which was not helping my nerves any.

“Wanna go check it out?” Sora asked cheerfully, as oblivious as usual when it came to this kind of thing. Halloween and haunted houses were more of his thing than mine after all.

And of course, there was the Incident That Shall Not Be Named involving a haunted house and an adult decked out as a zombie dressed in an overly large hooded brown robe coming at me from the dark. I’d refused to go back in there after that, not-actually-Ansem or not. That had given me a heart attack. 

I did apologize for giving the man a bloody nose though.

“Y-yeah! This is kind of cool.” Branwen said, looking around in wonder. Add Branwen to that list; for all my experiences were telling him otherwise, he was clearly enjoying himself here. Even if there would be a gaping hole between Sora and I walking through that particular haunted house and us being outside eating cotton candy because accidental Ansem jumpscare. 

Donald and Goofy groaned at Sora’s words, while I just shot them a sympathetic look.

“Not a fan of scary things?” Kairi asked. They shook their heads.

“Come on guys. Let’s go see what your friend wants to show us.” I said gently.

“Yeah.” Donald said, sighing heavily, before we followed Jack out of the square and into the tower beyond. After climbing up to the second floor, we came out to see a guy in a wheelchair engrossed in a book taller than I was, while three smaller people, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, were gathered around a rather large piece of machinery, cackling with glee.

Oh no.

I about jumped when the guy at the book popped the top of his own skull off to rub at his brain. I, no. Just no. My own scalp shivered just looking at it, and I reflexively put my hand on top of my head.

“Hello doctor! Where’s Sally?” Jack asked, striding up to the man with a friendly smile on his face. The doctor turned to face him, revealing a bony head that looked like the mask of a plague doctor had been turned to bone and fused with the man’s face.

“Can’t you see...that’s I’m in the middle of an experiment?” the man snarled, voice creaking, slamming the top of his skull back down on his head and giving Jack a glare at his audacity.

The doctor turned his motorized wheelchair around, before moving over to the large rectangular table at the side of the room. For a given measure of ‘side’ - the thing may have started out attached to the wall, but it was long enough for it to reach almost to the middle of the room. As for the trio of troublemakers, they picked up the machine part and started lugging it over to the table. The creaking sounds of a metal door opening, however, quickly diverted our attention to the newest arrival.

“Sally!” Jack beamed as the girl in question closed the metal doors behind her.

“Hey, this is way too heavy!” one of the mischief-makers complained.

“Then let’s toss it!” the girl of the trio suggested. The doctor immediately snapped his head up from whatever it was that he was engrossed in, glaring at the trio.

“You do and you’ll be sorry! Now bring it over here.” he ordered. I sighed - I could see exactly where this was going.

“Heave-ho!” The trio cheered in unison, ignoring the doctor and lobbing the thing onto the table regardless, and while it stuck the landing the force was enough for it to start sparking, electricity snapping over its metal frame. It was only a moment later that the thing exploded, getting yelps of surprise and alarm from everyone in the room. Thank heavens nothing had caught fire, though the stuff on the table was a clear loss.

Sally sighed, the sound breaking the suspended moment following the explosion, and the trouble trio began cackling in glee, the masks held in their hands giving us a clear view of their elated faces. They began to make their escape, though one of them tripped and fell flat on his face with a meaty smack as they did so, to which I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

“Imbeciles! Now my experiment is ruined!” the doctor snarled, fury in his voice as he slammed his gloved fist onto the scorched table. The trio’s only response was delighted cackling as they ran right past Sally and off to places unknown.

“Sally! Did you finish it? I wanna show my good friends.” Jack said, walking over to his girlfriend. 

“I’m sorry, Jack, I…I need a little bit more time.” she said, looking dejected. 

“Ohh.” Jack said, blinking, before stepping forward and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Well, that’s alright. Just as long as it’s ready for Christmas!” Jack said gently, excitement tinting the edge of his voice.

“But...Jack…” Sally protested softly as her boyfriend started walking away. He stopped, turning around to face the rest of us.

“I’d best be off. I’ve got to go get Sandy Claws right away!” he said, clearly not listening to whatever she wanted to say. “Wonderful to see you again. And to meet the rest of you too! Goodbye for now!” Jack finished, giving us a wave before turning and heading back down the stairs to the first floor of the tower.

I wondered why they didn’t have an elevator. Wouldn’t it be more spooky than stairs, given how many horror stories there were of them failing, with the lights going out and even falling sometimes?

Oh. That was probably why. They’d never get anywhere if they did.

“Go get...Santa Claus…” Sora murmured, a dreamy expression crossing his face. I took one look at him and snorted, rightly guessing where his mind had gone.

“Please, Sora.” Sally said. “I’m afraid something terrible will happen if Jack goes through with this.”

“You can say that again!” Donald said, clearly in agreement.

“Sora?” Goofy asked, concerned. I snorted - Sora was clearly still off in lala-land.

“Hey dude, pay attention.” I scolded, lightly wacking him upside the head.

“Wha- sorry!” Sora stammered. The sounds of the doors opening again saved him any further embarrassment as Jack came back into the room.

“Are those strange-looking fellows in the town square with you?” he questioned.

“What do you mean?” Kairi asked, confused. “We’re all here.”

“What fellows are you talking about?” Sora added, just as confused.

“You know, the ones who wanted to spoil Halloween and Christmas? What are they called again…” Jack mused, tapping his skull with a long, bony finger. “Heartless?”

“Wh- dude, why are you asking if they’re with us if Sora, Donald, and Goofy have been here before?!” Branwen yelped, Midnight Blue appearing in his hand.

“We’ll take ‘em out.” I said, materializing my own keyblade in my hand.

“Yeah. And then, we can go see Santa!” Sora shouted, stars in his eyes. Kairi looked rather stunned as well.

“Santa...here?” she mumbled, awestruck.

“I’ve never…” Branwen started, before stopping himself, an uncertain look in his eyes. “Am I even on his list?”

“I’m sure you are.” I reassured him. “Now come on. The faster we get rid of those things, the faster we can go see Santa.” I’m not gonna lie, I was beyond excited too, even knowing I’d get the chance to see him ahead of time. But first things first: the Heartless. Then I could go lose my mind.

~*~

Understandably, that was probably the quickest Heartless mopup we’d ever done. The mayor of the town, who’d been freaking out over them earlier, was quick to thank us before scurrying off to parts unknown. Probably to go have a meltdown or something, the poor guy had been terrified.

Wow. I blinked, realization dawning on me. When was the last time I’d been scared of the Heartless? Not boss-class Heartless, those didn’t count, but the small fry, I mean. I think…I think it was all the way back in Hollow Bastion that I’d last been afraid of them. Dang. Had it really been that long?

Heh, look at me now. Last year a Heartless setting me on fire scared the living daylights out of me, and now I could take multiple such hits like a champ. A year really made a difference, didn’t it.

Given the Heartless threat, Jack decided to recruit us all to be ‘Santa’s bodyguards’, which none of us were complaining about. He led us through the woods until he arrived at a specific tree, not far from where we’d landed the gummi ship. A tree with a Christmas tree door painted on its trunk. 

“Here it is. The door to Christmas Town!” Jack announced, gesturing at said door. “The spooks of Halloween can get so tiresome year after year. I wanted something new.”

As the man paced, I got a little distracted at the flash of red I saw over his shoulder. That red turned out to be a heart painted on the trunk of a tree, and on the tree next to it was a firework. And over there a few trees over was a giant easter egg. More holiday towns than just the ones we saw in Kingdom Hearts Two? Had this been there before? That’s if they weren’t just painted, but given the theme going on here…

Sora leaned closer to the Christmas tree door, drawing my attention back to the group.

“Beyond this door is a world filled with wonders...the likes of which you’ve never seen!” Jack explained excitedly. I didn’t have the heart to tell him otherwise. Sora in particular was staring at the door like all of his birthdays and Christmases had come early this year.

“At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Everything was so fresh and exciting!”

“C’mon! Just open it!” Sora half-begged his friend. Jack sauntered over and grabbed hold of one of the ornaments, which turned out to be a doorknob, pulling open the Christmas tree-shaped door and revealing the hollow space behind it. And down.

Well hello Majora’s Mask.

Jack gave a bow, gesturing for us to go ahead; something Sora immediately took to heart, bolting for the tree and jumping down the hole without so much as a pause.

“Sora!” Kairi protested, running up to where Donald and Goofy were gathering at the door. “That idiot…”

“Come on, don’t tell me you’re not excited too.” I grinned at her. She rolled her eyes at me.

“He could’ve at least looked before he jumped.” she grumbled, but there was no heat to it. “Hey Donald, Goofy, either go or don’t, but I don’t wanna stand here all day.”

“Fine, fine.” Donald said, before diving headfirst into the tree, Goofy jumping in right behind him.

“You’re gonna break your idiot neck!” I shouted down after him, before shaking my head with a huff. “Well, guess it’s our turn.”

“Yeah. See you on the other side.” Kairi said, flashing me a grin, before jumping down into the tree. I stepped up to the edge, looking down, my stomach half climbing into my mouth at the sight of the seemingly bottomless hole. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, steeling my nerves.

“Welcome to Termina, Riku.”

I jumped.

Chapter Text

I could see the others ahead, hear them screaming, but my breath felt like it was trapped in my lungs. I couldn’t scream, couldn’t make a sound.

We fell into a spiraling blue, snowflakes and light swirling around us like the colorful outlines of masks had on the way to Termina in Majora’s Mask.

It was incredible.

Suddenly, the light overtook my vision, and I was being hurtled out into the snow, plowing right into it with my face. It was only instinct from our time in Timeless River that let me roll out of the way in time before Kairi slammed into me - and wait, hadn’t she gone in before me??

“Urg.” she groaned, rolling into me on accident. She didn’t have time to move anywhere else before Branwen shot out of the tree, landing right on top of her. “Branwen!”

“Sorry!” he said, quickly scrambling off, only for Jack to come sailing through and land right on top of Kairi, much to her audible displeasure if her shrieking was anything to go by.

While the pair untangled themselves, I looked around at our surroundings, ignoring Sora’s “Coooool.” from beside me.

We were really here, in Christmas Town. In the North Pole, and there. Was. Snow!

Laughing, I took a few steps to the side before collapsing onto my back, soaking in the familiar feeling of snow at my back.

Oh, I had missed this. Good, deep snow, not the lighter covering we’d gotten in Hollow Bastion. The Land of Dragons didn’t count, we’d been kinda busy trying to stop a murderer at that point. But now? Now I could just bliss out in the snow.

“Having fun there, Riku?” Sora asked, a beaming grin on his face. I shot him a grin back.

“What does it look like?”

I lay back in the snow, utterly content...at least until a snowball whacked me in the face.

“Wh-what?!” I spluttered, pushing myself up and wiping the snow from my face. Branwen gave me an unapologetic grin, already bending over to scoop up more snow.

“Oh, you wanna play?” I said, bending over to get my own ammunition. “You’re taking on the snowball fighting king, here.”

“I’m with Riku!” Sora said cheerfully, well aware of where I came from.

“Then I’ll back Branwen up.” Kairi added, stepping over to where Branwen was.

“And I’ll-!”

Jack coughed, interrupting Donald as he cleared his throat to get our attention. “As exciting as this all is - believe me, I know - we do have an appointment to keep.” he reminded us. I groaned, and I wasn’t the only one.

“Fiiiiine. But we’ll definitely have to get in a snowball fight before we leave.” Branwen announced. I laughed.

“You’re on!” I said, dropping my snow, only to do a double-take at my hands. My normal, human hands. “Wait-!”

“Ah-hyuck, we’ve all changed.” Goofy said, who was now a doggy reindeer all decked out for Santa’s sleigh - glowing nose included! Oh man, I remembered that. 

“You make a good elf, Riku.” Sora chuckled. I froze.

“Elf?” I asked, reaching up and feeling my ears. My pointed ears. 

No way. No way. A wide, beaming grin split my face as I took in the rest of my outfit - my green elf outfit.

I was freaking Link!! Well okay not really but close enough!!

“I take it you approve?” Kairi chuckled, checking herself out.

“I think you make a cute Mrs. Claus.” I teased, and my little sister flushed red to match her outfit.

“Well I’m just a snowman.” Donald said, looking himself over and not sounding very satisfied with what he saw, which was fair enough.

“Yeah, well I’m an abominable snowman.” Branwen pointed out dryly, looking for all the world like a teenager-sized silver yeti, with only his face being spared, before his eyes widened as he locked on to something right behind Donald. “Y- You have a tiny shovel for a tail!” Branwen howled, clapping his hands to his mouth in a vain attempt to stifle his laughter. Donald squawked, pulling himself around to see, before letting loose a scream of something I couldn’t hope to understand.

“Huh. Smart. And quite festive. Once Sally’s done with my costume I can join you all in the Christmas spirit!” Jack enthused, and I let out an internal sigh of relief. That could have ended horribly - it wasn’t like we normally transformed twice in a single world. Although in hindsight, this was a place embodying Halloween and Christmas, sooo...they probably knew about the other worlds, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if they set up and visited and stuff on their respective holidays. “Now this way! Sandy Claws awaits!”

We followed Jack down the snowy path to the small town, the biggest building likely being Santa’s workshop. I couldn’t help it - my heart pounded in my chest, and with every step I took butterflies went absolutely nuts in my stomach. I’d known I’d run into Santa intellectually for a while now, but…

I was meeting Santa.

Once we’d gotten into the plaza, we were suddenly ambushed by gift box and toy themed Heartless bursting out from the snow, getting several yelps of alarm from the members of our group.

“Oh heck no!” I snarled, Midnight Blue appearing in my hand. “You don’t belong here!”

“That’s right!” Sora agreed, and we all charged with the energy of an angry mob.

Looking back on it, the sight of the Heartless’s clear panic before we were on them was hilarious, though at the time we were all too pissed off and offended to care. Once they had been stamped out with prejudice, we turned our attention back to Santa’s workshop.

“Think they’re in there too?” Donald asked nervously. Kairi scowled.

“They better not be.” she said darkly. Branwen let out a chuckle, slowly shaking his head.

“Since when have they ever been so kind?” he asked. Kairi nodded.

“Fair point.”

“Then- Christmas is in trouble, isn’t it?!” Sora said, frantic.

“Gawrsh, we can’t let anything bad happen to Christmas.” Goofy agreed, looking worried.

“Then we won’t.” Kairi said, a determined look on her face. “Jack, which building is Santa’s workshop?”

“Right over there.” he said, pointing at the biggest building, which made sense. Making toys took up a lot of room.

We followed Jack’s lead, keeping on the lookout for any Heartless. Surprisingly, they for once left us alone, leaving us free to get up to Santa unmolested.

My heart about leapt out of my mouth at the sight of the big man himself. He turned to face us, a kind smile on his face.

“Well, hello everyone.” he said warmly. “Did you come to see if you’re on my ‘nice’ list?”

Everyone filed into the room ahead of me, but I couldn’t move. I just stood there, frozen stiff as everyone gathered around Santa.

“Riku? You okay?” Goofy asked, looking rather worried.

“Oh come young man, I don’t bite.” Santa said, waving me over, and I kicked myself into gear, walking into the room to stand next to Sora and try not to embarrass myself any further. “So, your names? Ah, why don’t we start with young Riku here, since I already know his?”

“U-um. Okay sir.” I stammered.

“Bah, none of this ‘sir’ nonsense!” Santa said, waving a hand dismissively. “Relax. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen your name on my list. Let’s see, Riku...Riku…” Santa scanned the rather comically large list - how he could keep track of everyone, especially people with the same name, I had no idea - and stopped at one, nodding his head. “Yes, you’re right here. You’ve been doing some pretty good work over the years, I see.”

“Uh, thank you.” I blurted out, before taking a breath. Right, get ahold of yourself Riku. Stop being an idiot. “That means a lot.”

“You’re welcome, Riku. Now, who’s next?” Santa asked, looking out at the rest of our group.

“Me! Me!” Sora said, waving his hand excitedly in the air. “I’m Sora!”

“Sora, is it? Let me see…” Santa said, before going back to his list. “Ah, here you are. Well, according to my list, Sora...seven years ago you almost stopped believing in Santa Claus.”

I froze, the memory surfacing unbidden in my mind.

I looked over at Sora with a worried expression, hands moving on autopilot sculpting our sand castle. I was getting better at getting the battlements on the corner towers right; I’d only broken three of them since we started this time.  

But Sora had been really down all day today, and I wanted to know why.

“Sora? Are you okay?” I asked. My little brother winced, before looking up at me with tears in his eyes.

“R-Riku? Is Santa...is Santa even real?” he asked, taking me off guard with his question. “Wakka says he isn’t real, and that only babies believe in Santa Claus. But you’d know if he was, right? So, so is he?” He asked, a desperate sort of hope in his eyes. 

I set my plastic shovel down, before glancing around the beach to make sure we were alone. Once I was sure, I turned and looked Sora dead in the eyes.

“Sora, I’m a dead guy come back to life in another universe. Why can’t Santa be real?”

Oh, nuggeeeets.

“Quite the unusual argument you used then, Riku. Unusual, but quite effective nonetheless.” Santa said nonchalantly, and my stomach dropped through the floor. Sora and Kairi looked equally anxious, as while she hadn’t been there Sora had told her about it later, while Branwen for his part just looked confused and worried. Right, he wouldn’t be able to remember that from me. But he wasn’t stupid, and something was clearly wrong here, something revolving around me. And just because he didn’t know why everyone was freaking out didn’t mean he didn’t worry any less than Sora and Kairi did.

Santa looked up from his list, and worry took over his face at whatever he saw in our expressions. Especially mine.

“Oh don’t worry, children, you’re fine.” he said gently. “There’s nothing wrong with what you said. And besides, I wouldn’t want to do anything that would put me on my own naughty list, now would I?”

We all laughed, the tension in the air relaxing. Santa wasn’t gonna out me, I think. And he didn’t seem to think I was some kind of abomination for coming back either, so...bonus?

“Now, who’s next?” Santa asked. Branwen started to put his hand up, but then put it down again, looking at the floor. Kairi rolled her eyes and pushed him forward with a yelp.

“This doofus is Branwen. He’s never had a Christmas before.” she explained. Santa’s eyes widened in shock.

“Never?!” he asked. Branwen flinched.

“Never, sir.” he said miserably.

“Well now, that just won’t do. That just won’t do at all.” Santa said. “Look up, Branwen. Christmas is coming soon; if you’re not already on my list, well, then let’s add you, shall we?”

Wide-eyed, all Branwen could do was nod as Santa began scanning his list.

“Hmm...no, I don’t seem- oh! There you are.” Santa said proudly. Branwen looked like he was about to either pass out or burst out crying. “Yes, you’re on the nice list as well. Oho! And it looks like you’re not the only older one who’s never had a Christmas before!”

“That would be Naminé, Zion, and Roxas, right?” Branwen asked. Santa nodded.

“Oh? Friends of y-?” Santa froze mid-word, before squinting down at his list. “That’s odd.” he muttered.

“What is it?” I asked, the sinking feeling in my chest telling me I already knew.

“This friend of yours, Zion...she’s not on my list.” Santa said, to gasps of horror from the group. He held up a hand. “Wait a moment. It’s not that she’s not on my list, it’s that she’s...her name’s rubbed out.” he said, frowning. “It’s definitely there, but I can’t even read it. That’s...never happened before.”

“It’s, complicated, but...there’s a reason for that, sir. And we’re getting her back.” Branwen explained, or, well, tried to anyway. “Her name’s not actually Zion either, we just know that it’s close since her actual name was wiped from our memory. But don’t worry - we’ll definitely get her back before Christmas for sure!”

“What is it with all of this ‘sir’ business? It’s Santa to you kids.” Santa scolded us lightly.

“Yes, Santa.” we all chorused, before grinning at each other like idiots. Santa laughed, looking over at us fondly. The sight of it warmed my heart. I couldn’t tell you why, I just... knew, I was all right here, with Santa. That we all were. This place exuded a sense of wonder and warmth and joy and, well...Christmas.

I loved it.

“I believe you will. I’m looking forward to seeing Zion’s name reappear in time for her very first Christmas.” he said warmly, before turning to face Kairi. “And I suppose you’re the last, then?”

“Last? What about- oh wait, they’re adults.” Kairi said sheepishly. Santa laughed.

“Yes, they’ve had their fun already. But that doesn’t mean they can’t participate in the Christmas spirit.” he said, and I had to wonder; did I count as an adult to him? Technically I’d still been a minor when I’d died, and I was almost the same age now, so...you could make an argument for both, really. “As for you, young lady...don’t think that just because of your special circumstances that you’ll automatically end up as a permanent resident of my nice list, you hear me?” he said teasingly, wagging a finger.

“What? Oh!” Kairi said, realization dawning. “Of course not!”

“Good. I’m sure I’ll be finding you there regardless.” Santa said with a laugh, before running through his list for the fourth time. Jeez, talk about practice. This guy was a pro at this. “Ah yes, I see. Right here.” Santa said, tapping Kairi’s name with a finger. “You kids have quite the résumé, don’t you?”

“Eheh…” I chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of my head. Weeeell, when you put saving the worlds like that…

Santa laughed, the sound somehow soothing on my nerves. “Well then, well done you four. Now, thank you for being patient.” Santa said, turning to face the pumpkin king, who was vibrating in place with excitement so hard he looked like he was going to explode. “What was i- Jack Skellington?!”

As if to emphasize his words, a loud crash could be heard from deeper in the building, coupled with the sound of breaking glass.

“What sort of trouble did you bring this time?” Santa grumbled, getting off his chair and moving for the door, giving Jack a glare as he walked by.

“Trouble?” I asked.

“It’s a long story!” Jack said nervously. “C’mon. Let’s go find out what happened!” And with that, he was off, running away from that conversation and out after Santa.

“Riiight. Well, he’s not wrong. Let’s go.” Branwen said, leading the way as the rest of us filed out of the room and joined Santa and Jack. It didn’t take long for us to reach the source of the noise - Santa was nothing if not efficient, which really only made sense. You had to be efficient if you wanted to get all these presents to people in the span of a day, and that wasn’t even counting the fact that people typically settled on what they wanted last minute. Meaning Santa’s work wasn’t spread out nicely over a year, but rather concentrated heavily in the holiday season. 

The sheer amount of overtime that caused had to be an absolute nightmare. Santa’s elves really didn’t get enough credit, man.

In what had to be only one of many factory production rooms, we heard the pattering of footsteps of hidden people who did not belong. I highly doubted the elves would bother sneaking around, after all.

“Why do we have to hide?” a familiar voice asked, and I restrained myself from groaning aloud.

“Silence.” An even more familiar voice commanded, and this time I did groan aloud. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. That fool Ja-”

“I can assure you, it’s not a pleasant surprise on our end.” I grumbled.

“Busted!” The trouble trio from earlier shouted, immediately scampering away from Maleficent. Maleficent just shot me a baleful glare.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt other people’s conversations, brat?” she asked acerbly. The sound of glass shattering drew our attention to where the three troublemakers were making their escape through the window, and Maleficent took the opportunity to vanish in a cloud of green and black flame.

“You know these people?” Santa asked, turning to me.

“Vaguely. Maleficent we’re all too unfortunately familiar with, but the other three? Not really.” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t even know their names; I’ve only seen ‘em around once.”

“Those three are Lock, Shock, and Barrel.” Jack explained.

“Not those three…” Santa groaned.

“You know them?” Branwen asked curiously.

“How could I not? They’re only around the top of my naughty list every year.” Santa said. “I swear it’s like a competition for them at this point.”

I had the random thought of wondering if Vanitas had actually managed to top the naughty list during the time he was alive. Probably. Poor guy.

...I really wish I could save him.

“Well, I can assure you they’re not with us.” Jack told Santa.

“Well whatever the case, those naughty kids need to be brought back here and taught a lesson. Catch them and bring them back here - they’re going to get a lecture.”

With a huff of annoyance, Santa turned and began making his way back to the entrance of the factory room. Jack approached him from behind, looking very self-conscious about it.

“Um, mister Claws? I wanted to talk to you about Christmas first.”

“Dude, not the time!” Kairi exclaimed. “We need to take care of Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Maleficent first, and then you and Santa can talk about you wanting to do Christmas!”

“The young lady’s right. That’ll have to wait.” Santa agreed, if a bit waspishly. “I need to see how things are progressing in my workshop - we’re coming up on the holiday season rush and we can’t afford to be set back like this!”

I winced. Ouch. That had to suck.

“Maybe we could help after this? Try to get you guys back on track?” Sora offered hesitantly. Santa turned and smiled at us.

“While I appreciate the offer...hmm, actually…” Santa trailed off, clearly thinking things over. “Well, we’ll see what kind of a mess we’re in, and then I can see about if you can help or not. Some things just need an elven touch.” Santa said, which wasn’t a yes but it wasn’t a no either.

Working in Santa’s workshop. The very idea sent a very five-year-old like squeal of glee through my head.

“Alrighty then. Let’s catch those little troublemakers.” Branwen said, pounding his right fist into his left.

“Ohhhh, all right then.” Jack said dejectedly. He followed us outside of the workshop where we made our way back to the exit of the building. Stepping outside into the chilly air, I couldn’t help but breathe in the scent of winter and pine and candy canes. Was this what Christmas smelled like, or was it just a byproduct of the winter air, evergreen trees, and candy canes all over the place?

...Probably the latter, if I’m being honest. My scenting ability pretty much extended to light and darkness, and the normal capacities of a canine’s sense of smell when in my dark form.

Seriously, I did not know lettuce that had started to go bad could smell that awful.

I snickered as I saw the little tracks in the snow leading right out of the little town and back up the hill toward the gateway tree. “Looks like a couple someones aren’t used to the snow.”

“At least that makes our job easier.” Donald chuckled. “C’mon, let’s get after them!”

~*~

Going back through the tree had been a wild wide - instead of falling down into another world, we’d been blown upward by an invisible air current, flying through the tree trunk until we’d reached the door, where we’d stopped rising and simply hovered, leaning forward to go back out through the door. I sighed as my healthy skin color fell away, revealing the ghostly pallor of my Halloween Town form.

Maybe even my true form, if I wanted to be macabre about it.

I shook my head. Now was not the time, and I wasn’t dead anymore, far from it. This was just a costume, to blend into an eternal Halloween. Not the costume I would’ve chosen, but a costume nonetheless.

Tracking the three down to the graveyard just outside of town, we burst through the gate only to be confronted by Lock, Shock, and Barrel below a boss class Heartless.

“There they are!” Sora said unnecessarily. The trio merely exchanged looks before leaping up into the cage a machine-like boss Heartless ( Prisonkeeper, I suddenly knew) was carrying, and I immediately had to blink away images of that boss Piranha Plant holding the cages containing princesses Peach and Zelda in the Subspace Emissary as it shut the door behind them.

Sometimes things here reminded me of the randomest things from the life before. And you can bet I always rescued Princess Zelda first, I mean come on.

Actually, hmm. I wonder what happened if you managed to break both cages at the same time?

“Stop them!” the girl of the trio, Shock, shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Tie ‘em down!” Lock added, pointing unnecessarily at us.

“Get ‘em!” Barrel cackled, and the machine-like Heartless complied with a roar of rage.

Focus, idiot. Midnight Blue leapt to my hand with a familiar ring, and I decided to see just how machine-like it was by-

Wait what was it-?!

Lock fell out of the cage the monster was shaking and right into its mouth, where it proceeded to swallow him whole. While I gaped in shock Prison Keeper just carelessly dropped the cage, where it swung back and forth beneath him, still holding Shock and Barrel.

“That- that thing just-!” The hands of Prison Keeper burst into flame, cutting me off as the monster roared before flinging a truly massive fireball at us, forcing us to scatter.

“Be careful where you aim! And don’t use Thunder spells, we might hurt them!” Donald pointed out, before pointing his staff higher up and casting. “Aeroga!”

A whirlwind of green wind swept up Prison Keeper and whirled it around until it slammed into the curled hill, stunned. Sora and Goofy jumped the thing with a shout of triumph, but it quickly recovered its wits and shot back up into the air before they could land more than a hit or two.

“Blizzara!” I shouted, bouncing a large chunk of ice off the size of Prison Keeper’s head. It roared, before grabbing the cage a second time, shaking it until Shock fell into its mouth. Electricity crackled along its hands as it roared before spinning in a circle, a whirlwind of pain and lightning bouncing around the graveyard.

With a yelp I hit the dirt to avoid getting electrocuted, before hitting it with a Fira. We were pretty much stuck to just magical attacks, since getting in close was such a pain in the neck. Growling, I blocked another fireball with Reflect before returning fire with an Aerora.

“Someone should bust open that cage! If we get Shock, Lock, and Barrel out of there, why, Prison Keeper’ll lose its ammo!” Goofy shouted.

“Right!” I yelled back, before getting an idea. “Freeze the gaps! It can’t swallow them if they can’t fall out!”

“What?!” Lock - and when did he get out of the Heartless? - shouted in alarm. “You can’t do that!”

“You’ll freeze us!” Barrel agreed. My only response was to rush forward, getting in as close as I could without getting knocked flat on my butt. I had to be careful with this one.

“Blizza- ow!” I yelped, getting smacked in the side by the cage, before-

With a metallic wrenching sound, Prison Keeper suddenly fell - right on top of me.

Thank heavens Heartless immediately burst into dark smoke when they died!

“Riku! Are you okay?!” Sora asked, running up to me and shoving a hi-potion into my hands. I drank it down gratefully, nodding.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t wanna do that again anytime soon though.” I wheezed, grimacing. That had been a painful fight, and in more ways than one. I didn’t even want to imagine trying to fight this thing with only half our party, this had already been painful enough! 

My respect for Nick’s gaming skills just went up again. This fight had been hard.

I looked at where the troublemaking trio were picking themselves up, groaning. Honestly, Lock, Shock, and Barrel rattled around so much in that cage of theirs I was honestly surprised they weren’t concussed from it, and that wasn’t even including when the boss swallowed them for the extra firepower. 

“You...you won’t get away with this!” Barrel snapped.

“Yeah! Oogie Boogie’ll teach you a lesson!” Shock added, and the trio immediately scampered off back toward the entrance.

“Oh no you don’t!” Branwen growled, trying to grab one of them as they bolted by, since he was the only one positioned between the trio and the gate. Unfortunately, being only one person, he could only pick one, and Lock’s shirt slipped through his grasp. “Nuggets.”

“Oogie Boogie? That potato sack guy made up entirely of bugs?” Kairi asked.

“That’s him, and not good news at all.” Jack confirmed. “If he’s back, he might try to take over Halloween Town again.”

“How is he back anyway? Did all of the bugs finally manage to pull themselves back together?” Branwen wondered.

“I bet it was Maleficent.” Donald growled. “This is exactly the kind of thing she’d do.”

“We’d better go back and check up on the town.” Goofy said.

“You’re right. Let’s go.” Jack agreed, leading the way. The town was perfectly unscathed, much to the confusion of the others, though I knew the reason why. He was focused on wrecking a different town. My fists clenched at the knowledge. Not for long he wasn’t.

“Jack! Jack!” Sally shouted, running to meet us from across the fountain plaza. “Oh, this is terrible! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Sally? What happened?” Jack asked, confused.

“It’s Santa! Oogie Boogie kidnapped him!” Sally explained. “I-I don’t know how he came back, but he did and now mister Claus is in trouble!”

“What?!” pretty much our entire group shrieked. Sally nodded frantically.

“You need to go rescue him, now!”

“Of course we will! Come on guys - back to Christmas Town!” Kairi ordered, before turning and running for the dead forest, the rest of us right on her heels.

~*~

Landing back on the pristine snow, it took only seconds for us to notice the black smoke coming from Santa’s workshop.

“Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me.” I growled, clenching my teeth.

“We have to hurry!” Goofy shouted, leading the charge down the hill. Naturally, Heartless had to pop up in the town square like a group of bad pennies.

“Out of our way!” Donald howled, blasting the nearest one with a Firaga to the face. The rest of us joined in with a vicious vengeance, and within the span of a few minutes, the only thing left of those Heartless was the telltale black smoke of their deaths, which was already disappearing into the night.

Wait. Had it really been less than a day since we’d gotten here?

Huh. It had. It felt like so much longer.

“C’mon! Let’s go!” Kairi said, and we bolted into the workshop. It was pretty easy to follow the Heartless down to Santa’s workshop proper, since the closer we got, the more of them there were. Definitely a sign that we were going in the right direction.

Coming into the room, it was clear by the terrible paint job that Oogie Boogie had been at it. Thinking of all the work to get things in here back to rights would add to Santa’s already considerable burden made me wince.

Evil laughter made us whirl around to see Oogie Boogie standing on the top of the stairs just behind us, clearly over the moon to see us here. He jumped down to land on the ground just as Sally had the unfortunate timing to open the door, and with another laugh he knocked her off her feet and onto the lower floor - half floor? - where the conveyors were.

“Jack Skellington!” he boomed, turning around to face us.

“Oogie!” Jack growled in response. The giant burlap sack monster laughed again.

“You and I have a score to settle, Jack! Same goes for your little sidekicks!” he crowed, before looking confused. “Uhh, did you have that many last time? No matter! You’ll all pay for what you did to me!”

“What are you planning to do with Sandy Claws?” Jack demanded. Oogie Boogie just looked baffled.

“Who?” he asked, scratching the back of his head. Man, I know the guy has memory problems, but seriously… 

“Sandy Claws? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Oogie Boogie huffed, putting his hands on his hips. He turned around before leaping down on a conveyor belt, and my heart leapt into my mouth as I realized that Santa was down there, lying tied up on the belt with a terrified expression on his face. “And why is this roly-poly red guy here? Time to go, grandpa!” Oogie Boogie said, before hauling the man to his feet. He shoved him forward, right in front of the entrance of the machine at the end of the room, laughing his head off - at least until a sudden leg landed in front of him. Which, what?

No wait, that was Sally right there! That was her leg, which, okay, not what I would’ve gone for, but she seemed just fine and as far as distractions went it worked, so I wasn’t complaining about it. Baffled, Oogie Boogie shoved Santa aside, sending him tumbling off the conveyor belt as he bent down to further investigate the apparently random leg.

Right, that was it. Pulling my darkness around me, I shifted forms and leaped from the higher floor, pelting across the ground before pulling my darkness back into my heart to haul Santa to his feet. “You alright?” I asked, concerned.

“Yes, thank you.” Santa said, just as Oogie Boogie turned around.

“Eh? What are you-?”

“Over here, mister Santa Claus!” Sally called out from a door on the right wall. Santa wasted no time in running as fast as he could over to her, whereas I planted myself firmly in between him and Oogie Boogie, Midnight Blue appearing in my grasp.

“Errrrrrargh!” Oogie Boogie roared, jumping down to meet me, only for the rest of my friends to arrive.

“Took you long enough!” I said teasingly, before turning my gaze back to Oogie Boogie.

“Well excuse me, not all of us can run as fast as you when you’re like that!” Sora protested, before laughing. 

“Why youuuu-!” Oogie Boogie growled, before whipping around and running back to the machine. He charged inside, the rest of us stopping in front of it - because no way were we charging into what was probably a death trap, given all the red skulls he’d painted over it. At any rate, Oogie Boogie was soon lowering himself down in a...what were those called again? Observation box, I think? Right, observation box. Oogie Boogie began cackling away in glee at being out of our reach. He slammed his hand down on the control panel in front of him, and we yelped as magical barriers popped up on the sides of the conveyor belt, trapping us on it, while spikes came out the other end behind us.

“Are you freaking kidding me?!” I shouted as the conveyor began moving backward towards said spikes. Thankfully the spikes didn’t seem to be moving but I didn’t count on that to last for long. 

“Stop!” Donald shouted, charging ahead and into the machine, which now had blue light outlining the square entrance in front of us, and red on the other two. As I watched, the left one turned blue, and Donald popped out that entrance. 

“Huh?” He gaped, but was quick to pull himself together and run back the way he came, coming out back onto our conveyor. “Not again!”

“Hope you like the Oogie gift I picked out for ya!” Oogie Boogie taunted from up in his box, the entrances to the machine all lighting up red as presents beginning to spill out onto the conveyor belt.

“Wait, did you gift wrap these individually?!” I gaped.

“No!” Oogie Boogie shouted back, though it sounded a little guilty to me. I internally snickered at the thought before raising my hand.

“Fira!” To my dismay, the spell crackled against an invisible barrier above my head - so these things went all around. These barriers must’ve been guard rails or something then originally, meant for safety purposes rather than the twisted game Ooogie Boogie had turned it into. 

Wait. If it had been meant for safety purposes, then…did that mean it extended to the presents? I raced over to the nearest one, kicking it up into the air before shifting from a one-handed to a two-handed grip on Midnight Blue, slamming my keyblade into the present like a baseball bat and sending the present flying. To my delight, the barriers registered the presents as something that belonged, and so let it through freely to collide with the observation box. The present exploded, leaving a small crack now visible in the glass. The thing hadn’t shattered, reinforced safety glass was stronger than that, but it was definitely cracked and that meant it was working.

“Yes!” I shouted, pumping my offhand into the air in a fist. “The barriers don’t see the presents as something that doesn’t belong, use those!” Not being an idiot, Oogie Boogie moved his box a belt over, getting himself out of range. These presents were heavy; probably had to do with all the explosives packed inside ‘em.

“There’s seven of us, split up!” Sora ordered. “At least two to a conveyor, he can’t run from us then!”

“I’ll take left!” I called, claiming where the sack of bugs had gone.

“Same here!” Branwen added.

“I’m on right!” Kairi decided.

“So am I!” Donald shouted. That decided, the moment the entrances flashed blue I was charging in, the machinery inside shifting gears as it opened a passageway between the blue-linked conveyors. I rolled outside, Midnight Blue slamming into a boxed present and sending it flying into the glass with an explosive crash. 

Oogie Boogie screamed something at me I didn’t actually catch before a fist-shaped piston thing came crashing down from the ceiling to try and flatten me. Not that it worked, Ansem would’ve had my hide if I couldn’t have dodged something that big and obvious coming for my face, but the point still stood.

Lasers of lightning came next, striking down with pinpoint precision from the invisible ceiling made by the barriers. The fist piston thing slammed down a second time, striking a present and blinding me with the resulting bang and smoke. I dodged out of the way, only to smack into the barrier and stagger back with a yelp. And then get hit by a laser, because of course I did.

“Riku!”

“Focus on your own conveyor!” I shouted back at Jack, once again shifting to a two-handed grip and letting a present fly. It missed, Oogie Boogie having started moving his observation box over, but that put it nicely above the middle conveyor where Sora, Jack, and Goofy were. Three quick back to back explosions and Oogie Boogie decided that maybe discretion was the better part of valor and scooted his box away from the conveyor with the most people on it.

Of course, that’s when the sack of bugs added Heartless to the mix, trying to get our attention away from his backfiring trap. The guy was barely clinging to the struts of what had once been the observation box; one more good hit should shake him loose. 

A hit which Donald was more than happy to give. His foot lashed out, sending the present in front of him flying into the air. It slammed into the metal supports of what remained of the observation box, the explosion knocking Oogie Boogie loose and sending him crashing down onto the conveyor belt. Evidently the destruction of said box triggered some sort of failsafe, because the conveyors stopped moving and the barriers fell away, taking all the hazards with them.

Donald and Kairi happily set about bashing his face in with their weapons even as Oogie Boogie scrambled to get away from them. Not that he really had anywhere to go, given that the rest of us were quick to join in on the beating. Even more Heartless began spawning all around us, Oogie desperately trying to get himself some space, and we were forced to turn our attention away from Oogie Boogie in favor of getting them off our backs.

Once the swarm of Heartless was defeated, Oogie Boogie began laughing at us, hands on his hips from where he stood on the middle conveyor.

“Blizzara!” At least until Kairi’s spell slammed into his gut and sent him flying back into his own spikes. I couldn’t hold back that snigger even if I tried. 

“Youuuu!” Oogie Boogie started, shaking his fist at us, and insect feet began clicking against the floor as bugs began pouring from a tear in his burlap body. I tensed, waiting for the transition to round two. 

“Huh?” Oogie Boogie asked, looking down at his right leg, before gasping and frantically holding the tear in his burlap body closed. He sighed in relief as the bugs stopped falling out, before turning to us and laughing again. So, that…wasn’t a transition phase, then?

“Why are you laughing? You do realize you’re basically down a hand now till you get that fixed, right?” I asked. That became a moot point a second later, as another tear made itself known on the top of his left leg. He immediately stopped laughing and let go of the burlap he’d been holding closed in favor of closing the newest tear, only for bugs to begin spilling back out of the tear on his right.

Oogie Boogie began sobbing, moaning as his body began deflating. His moans shifted to an echoey tone before he collapsed in a bundle of burlap. A single white bug that I think was a termite scuttled out, to which Donald responded by stomping on it.

“Dude, wasn’t that a little much?” Branwen asked, while Sora just sighed in relief.

“Not really, no.” Jack disagreed. “Now, let’s go see how mister Claws and Sally are doing.”

“Great idea. Let’s go.” Sora agreed, and led the way over to the door where they’d disappeared to. Sally had left a trail of straw scraps behind, but since they were few and far between I wasn’t worried. It helped that Jack wasn’t either.

Following it, we were led back outside, where Santa and Sally stood waiting.

“Alright, Christmas is safe again.” Sora grinned. “Oogie Boogie won’t be bothering you again.”

“Yeah. And hopefully he stays gone for good this time!” Donald griped.

“Perfect! I’d better get down to business!” Jack said, walking forward.

“Wha?! Leave that to Santa!” Donald protested.

“Yup, you oughta stick to Halloween and spooky stuff!” Goofy agreed.

“Jack…” Sally spoke up softly, before pulling a folded-up Santa suit from her pockets. Nice to see her leg had been reattached too. “It’s done.”

“Wonderful!” Jack cheered, throwing his hands up into the air. “Why, I love it! Thank you Sally!” he said, taking it from her.

“Jack, do you really have to do this?” Sally questioned uneasily.

“But I make a splendid Sandy Claws!” Jack protested as he pulled up the suit on over his clothes. Santa just sighed.

“Listen here, Jack Skellington. You saved me, and Christmas as well. And for that, I’m very grateful.” Santa told him, before putting his hands on his hips. “But please, promise me you won’t cause any trouble!” he added, jabbing a finger at him. “And about that suit!”

Jack did a little twirl, showing it off and clearly loving every minute of it. His smile fell when he saw the stern look on Santa’s face.

“Don’t even think about taking over for me again.” Santa said, more gently than I’d been expecting. 

“I just thought you could use a little help this year, mister Claws.” Jack defended himself. “You must be exhausted from all the preparations. And - I wouldn’t mind a second chance to get this Christmas thing right.” Wait, second chance? What had he done the first time then?

Santa sighed. “Yes, being Santa Claus can be tiring. But let me tell you something, Jack. Seeing the happy faces of little children when they discover the presents I’ve brought them makes it all worthwhile, year after year after year. And you, Jack - you love to make them gasp and see them shiver with fright. What if someone tried to take all of that away from you?”

Jack just looked down at his feet, scratching his cheek with a long, bony finger.

“We both have very important jobs to do, Jack.” Santa said gently. “Mine is to take care of Christmas, and yours is to take care of Halloween. So we each have to do the very best we can. After all, you’re the face of Halloween - mister Jack Skellington! The Pumpkin King! The Knight of Nightmares!” Jack’s eyes lit up at the reminders, at the acknowledgement and praise of his titles. “And even though you’re fascinated with Christmas, Jack...Halloween is your true specialty. Don’t you see? Children rely on both of us to do our jobs. Halloween needs your attention...and I know Christmas needs mine, urgently.” he finished, turning and heading for the entrance to his great workshop.

“You’re right! I am the master of ter-!”

“Wait. Is there really anything we can’t do to help?” Sora interrupted Jack, making Santa pause and turn around. “I know Oogie Boogie made a real mess of things in your workshop…”

Santa hummed, stroking his beard in thought. “Well, it’s true he did...and while you don’t have the speed and precision of elves, there’s no reason why you can’t help with taking on some of the less finicky workload. Like packaging! Packaging can be a nightmare.” Santa chuckled, shaking his head.

“Jack! Oh, Jack!” a familiar voice called, and we turned to see none other than the mayor of Halloween Town barreling down the snowy slope. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere! We must go over the plans for next Halloween. I can’t do a thing without your approval!”

Then...why was he the one in charge? Unless that gave Jack the time he needed to focus on his holiday while the mayor made sure the town was still standing. That made sense. 

“So true! We’ll have to up our game this year.” Jack said, turning and walking toward the slope, the mayor speeding up to walk at his side.

“Good luck, Jack Skellington!” Santa called. The man turned and waved to us cheerily, before turning back around and heading back for the doorway to Halloween Town.

“Well, there he goes.” Sora said with a grin, putting his hands back behind his head.

“Yes, and I’ve got lots of names to check, preparations to finish, and a mess to clean up!” Santa agreed, before a spark of light drew our attention to where Jack was, his Santa suit lit up with a familiar bright glow.

“The gateway’s tied to his suit?” Kairi asked, baffled, before shrugging. “Well, whose turn is it now?”

“Mine, I think.” Sora said, before stepping forward. While the beam of light initially startled Jack and the mayor, they calmed when they saw it was harmless, not to mention the giant light show of unlocking a keyhole was pretty distracting.

“Does...that mean we have to get going, then?” Branwen asked uneasily.

“Nope! Just ‘cause we opened the gate doesn’t mean we hafta go through right away.” Goofy reassured him. “Besides, we did promise Santa we’d help.”

“That’s right.” I nodded, before turning to the man in question. “Just point us at whatever you need doing!”

Santa chuckled. “Alright, this way.” He took us back to the workshop, where he snapped his fingers and brooms, dustpans, mops, and scrubbers came to life. “We already have enough work to do without adding cleaning to the mix.” he chuckled at seeing our surprised expressions.

“My elves will be in to fix the machines once the brooms and such have done their work - electrical work and water is never a good mix, you see.” Santa said, before leading us back out of the room. “Now here, is where we get the packaging done.”

The room he led us into was gigantic, looking more like a ballroom than anything else. Elves worked frantically but efficiently to wrap the gifts, passing them along the table in an assembly line before they were packed carefully in a wheeled cart. When that got full, it wheeled itself away on its own, likely going to wherever Santa and the elves stored the presents until Christmas day, another one swiftly taking its place.

“Now, I know you’re not going to match the speed of my elves, but that doesn’t matter. One more present you finish is one more off our hands.” Santa said, the elves in question perking up at the sight of Santa bringing in strangers. “Now, listen up! A miscreant by the name of Oogie Boogie put us behind schedule-” This was met by many groans from the elves, before Santa held up a hand and they all fell silent. “But Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, and Branwen here along with Jack Skellington managed to stop him before he could make even more of a mess. These kids volunteered to help us catch up on the workload as much as they can before they need to get going again.” he explained, to much cheering from the elves.

“Hey, you guys can sit here!” an elf said, beckoning us over to an empty table. “You four can wrap, and you two can put the ribbons on as well as tag and bag the presents.” he said, assigning the jobs to Sora, Donald, Kairi, and I to the first job, and Goofy and Branwen to the second.

“Sweet!” Sora said, sitting down and grabbing wrapping paper and scissors. The elf grinned at his enthusiasm as the rest of us joined him.

“The cart next to you will wheel in presents, and while you four are busy, will just sit patiently with its load.” the elf explained. “Now, I’ve got to get back to work, but good luck!” he said, waving, before scurrying back over to his empty seat, where several packages were piled in front of his spot awaiting ribbons and tags.

“Okay.” Sora said, before picking up a present - a handheld video game console, definitely for someone offworld - for himself and shoving a little gray tabby cat plushie over to me. “Excited to be one of Santa’s elves for the day?” he asked, eyes shining bright with excitement.

“Of course.” I chuckled, grabbing some pink wrapping paper and scissors before setting the little plushie on top of it. Looking at it in combination with Christmas and the small white flowers that almost looked like stars on the wrapping paper around me, I…

“Nick! Morgan!” I looked away from where Nick and I had been griping about winter break being over to see Tristan barrel excitedly into the classroom, a beaming grin spread across his face. 

“Tristan? What’s got you so excited?” Nick asked. Tristan slapped his backpack down on Nick’s desk and practically ripped it open, pulling out a oh my gosh-!!

“Look what I got for Christmas!” Tristan crowed, holding the smallest most adorable Chirithy plush in his hand. No, literally - it was only as big as one hand. “His name is Bean and I love him!”

“…Riku? Are you okay?” Kairi asked, snapping me out of the memory. 

“Yeah. Wanna bet I can wrap more of these things before we have to go than you?” I told Kairi, wanting a distraction from my thoughts before I did something stupid like start bawling in the middle of the present assembly room.

“Oh you’re on!” my little sister agreed. “We’ll keep score on a spare piece of wrapping paper - just no cheating!” she added teasingly, passing the present now fully wrapped in rainbow paw print paper down the table.

“Hey, don’t leave me out!” Donald protested from where he sat next to me.

“Or me!” Branwen added.

“Branwen, you’re tagging, you can’t race with us.” Sora frowned, before getting an idea. “You can race with Goofy though! You’re doing the same job.”

“Fair enough. You ready to start?” Goofy asked, picking up a ribbon.

“You bet I am!” Branwen cheered, picking one of his own up. “On your mark...get set...go!” he said, before grabbing Kairi’s wrapped present and beginning to tie the ribbon around it.

“Everyone got a new present?” Kairi asked us, surveying the table.

“Hang on a second.” Sora said, taping the last side of his present down before pushing it over to his left, where Kairi obligingly passed it down to Goofy and Branwen. “Alright, ready...set...go!”

With a smile, I got to work, cutting away at the pink wrapping paper to form the base of the present. It might be silly, but it was fun, and silly game or not I wasn’t going to lose.

Chapter Text

We actually forgot to keep track of time, but Santa was kind enough to let us bed down in sleeping bags in the packaging room, since all the rooms with beds were kinda taken. Which made sense, and besides, it was kind of fun. It felt like we were having a sleepover again, just with more friends. And less Maleficent. 

The sleeping bags he’d lent us, as it turned out, were defective presents - apparently the dye hadn’t taken properly which made them look like colorful cow print - but they were soft and incredible to sleep in. And even better, he let us keep them as thanks for helping him out with Oogie Boogie and the presents. It was awesome.

Speaking of awesome, we’d spent the morning having the promised snowball fight, taking potshots at each other, switching sides at random, and just generally having way too much fun. I hadn’t noticed before, but when I was a wolf I had a little green Christmas vest, and I was very quickly banned from being one during the fights when I intentionally dug up snow to fling it out behind me and right into Donald.

The last snowball fight was everyone against me, and I got creamed. I wasn’t the only one experienced at snowballs - Donald and Goofy had plenty of experience with snow, and weren’t sixteen years rusty either - and me against five was just asking to go down.

I got absolutely pummeled with snow and I loved every minute of it.

But all good things have to end, and when the sun was high in the air, we packed it in, shaking snow off ourselves and heading back through Halloween Town to board the gummi ship. Donald lifted us off, and we made our way straight into the next connection.

After we landed, the moment I stepped out the door I abruptly found myself on four legs. The surprise shift from two legs to four unbalanced me, and I ended up tumbling out of the ship and onto the ground with a yelp as a result. Bewildered, I looked myself over to see if I’d been forced into wolf form, but it hadn’t felt like that and my darkness wasn’t outside my heart either. 

“Riku! You okay?” Sora asked from the door. I nodded, getting to my feet.

“Yeah. I seem to be a silver spotted hyena, for whatever reason.” I said, scanning my surroundings. We were in some sort of gorge or ravine, but given that I was a hyena cub and there was the telltale yellow-green ooze and flames of the Elephant Graveyard, I was pretty sure I knew where we were. Sora jumping out and turning into a brown lion cub just confirmed it. Hello Pride Lands.

Why the heck this place was connected to Jack’s Santa Claus suit I had no idea, but I’m sure I’d figure it out. Maybe it had to do with jobs? I mean, Santa and Jack were in charge of their holidays, and Simba needed to come take charge of Pride Rock. So that was probably why.

“Whoa, I’m a king cheetah cub! An albino king cheetah cub!” Branwen said, looking himself over. “Cool!”

“I’m a turtle.” Goofy announced redundantly, before we heard a cry of triumph from Donald.

“I’m a bird! And I can fly!” he crowed. Branwen groaned.

“Lucky. I wanna be a bird.” he complained.

“Well just be glad you’re not a monkey!” Kairi growled, drawing our attention over to her. And oh my gosh she was a baboon.

I started howling with laughter at the young, dark reddish-pink baboon my sister had become, though the hyena cackling startled me into shutting up. I hadn’t expected to sound like that. Kairi just shot me a glare, before cracking up at the expression on my face.

“C’mon, let’s get going. Wherever we are, it doesn’t seem like anyone other than animals live here.” Kairi pointed out.

“Yeah. Let’s go find out why we’re here.” I agreed.

“And what this place has to do with a Santa Claus suit.” Branwen muttered, making me snicker in response.

“Yeah. It’s kinda creepy here, isn’t it?” Sora asked, looking around uneasily.

“You can say that again.” Donald agreed. “And here I thought we were done with the spooks and scares.”

It didn’t even take us five minutes of walking before we got into trouble. “Look out!” Goofy yelled as a trio of very familiar spotted hyenas crested the rocks, cutting us off from ahead and behind, neatly sandwiching us between them. Ed cackled, his crazed-sounding laughter echoing through the ravine.

“Heartless?” Sora asked nervously, looking around as more hyenas came out of the woodwork - or rockwork, as it were. Great.

“I dunno Sora. I get the feelin’ they might live here.” Goofy frowned.

“Don’t mind us! Just passing through. We won’t be any trouble.” Donald said.

“Yeah, we won’t.” Branwen agreed nervously.

“Don’t be silly. We’d love you to stick around for lunch.” Shenzi said, and I growled in response.

“Um, we didn’t bring anything to eat…” Sora said nervously.

“Sora, we’re the lunch!” I growled, before glaring at Shenzi, Ed, and Banzai.

“What?!” Donald and Kairi shrieked in unison.

“What, you’re not gonna share, cub?” Banzai asked, and it took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. “We might even let you have a bone or two at the end!”

“Touch a hair on my friends’ pelts and I’ll skin you alive.” I snarled. Shenzi blinked, taken aback.

“Whoa there. I think the cub needs to learn his place.” she said, smirking maliciously.

“Hardly.” Branwen growled, getting ready for a fight.

“Guys, there’s too many of them. Run for it!” Kairi shouted, and everyone bolted in different directions. I had two options here - but given the numbers I wasn’t risking attacking Shenzi, yet. Not unless we got cornered.

Sora tripped, chain necklace clinking as he sprawled flat out on his back. Quick as a snake, Kairi grabbed him by the foreleg and yanked him back to his feet.

“Thanks Kairi!” he said, relieved.

“Just keep running!” Donald squawked, before yelping as another group of spotted hyenas cut us off.

“Aww, going somewhere?” Shenzi crooned. Ed cackled, loudly licking his chops. All of us summoned our weapons, ready for a fight. Banzai blinked.

“Well, you don’t see that every day.” he muttered. We all got ready to fight for our lives, before a loud roar suddenly echoed through the ravine.

“Awww, that Scar’s got the worst timing.” Banzai groaned.

“Just let him roar.” Shenzi suggested, and I bared my teeth at that.

“I wish - taking these little runts down’ll take too long, and he already sounds grumpy enough. Better go see what he wants.” Banzai grumbled, before giving us a gimlet glare. “You got lucky this time, runts. But hey, if you wanna stick around…” he added meaningfully, trailing off as Scar roared again. “Ugh. C’mon, let’s go.”

The spotted hyenas turned as one and fled further down the ravine, and my legs almost gave out on me from relief. 

“Fank hea-” Branwen started, before dropping Midnight Blue, our keyblade dematerializing in mid-air. “Ack. I mean, thank heavens that Scar person called them off. I thought we were about to die there.” Branwen moaned, letting himself collapse to the ground. The rest of us dematerialized our weapons, then, freeing up our mouths to speak. Yay for Wolf Link telepathy so I don’t have to deal with this on a regular basis.

“Yeah. Moving like this isn’t as easy as you make it look, Riku.” Sora agreed, turning to me. “What’s your secret?”

I blinked. “Uhh…”

“Okay, how about we get out of here first, and then Riku can teach you all how to move around on four legs?” Kairi suggested, and we all nodded.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go!” Donald said, before leading the way in the opposite direction the hyenas had gone. It didn’t take us long to get out to the grounds of the Elephant Graveyard proper, and that’s when we ran into our first lioness, Nala. Roaring at a pair of t-rex-like Heartless, she was quick to dodge their charge before scoring her claws down along one’s side. Bellowing in pain, the Heartless lashed out with its tail, knocking Nala back.

“Come on!” Sora shouted, leading the charge into the fray. While it was clear the others weren’t used to being on four legs, practice was honestly the best way to adjust, and their movements became smoother and surer as the battle wore on. Not that a fight against a couple Heartless lasted long, but the t-rexes actually put up more of a fight than I thought they would. Good to know.

Once the last of them were gone, we dematerialized our weapons and turned to face Nala.

“You alright?” Branwen asked, concerned. Nala nodded.

“Thank you. I appreciate the help.” she said.

“We’re just glad you’re okay.” Goofy told her. “Heartless are nasty business.”

“Is that what they were?” Nala asked. 

“Yeah. Seen any others around here?” I asked. Nala abruptly bared her teeth at me before returning her attention to Sora, frowning and shaking her head.

“No. And I hope there aren’t any others. We have enough on our paws without competing with those things.” the lioness said, before sighing. “I don’t usually hunt outside of the Pride Lands, and if those things are around I can see why our borders are where they are.”

“Pride Lands? Is that where we are?” Donald asked.

“Yes. Well, not exactly, but just a little ways back there is where I live.” Nala said, gesturing with her head over her shoulder.

“Have you seen any bad guys in black hoods around? Or maybe a really big bully named Pete?” Sora questioned. Nala shook her head.

“No, I haven’t seen anyone like that.” she told us, much to our relief.

“Looks like we got here before them for once.” Kairi said.

“Looks like it.” Goofy agreed.

“We might as well take a look around, and clear out whatever Heartless are in the area.” Sora suggested. Nala’s eyes widened at the suggestion.

“Wait - the Pride Lands are dangerous. Scar and the hyenas have made things unbearable for everyone.” she said, before shooting me a dark glare. “Unless you’re on his side?”

“What?! No!” Sora protested.

“Then why else would you be traveling with a hyena?” Nala retorted. I just groaned.

“Look, do you really think Scar has the entire world population of hyenas under his command?” I asked pointedly. Nala faltered. “Exactly. Just because I happen to be a hyena doesn’t mean I have or want to have anything to do with this Scar person.”

“Yeah, Riku’s a good guy! He’s my brother!” Branwen added, much to Nala’s very visible confusion. He winced. “Uh, well, not by blood, but we are!”

“...Alright. No, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Nala apologized. “It’s just, there’s no food left. They’ve driven off all the prey - we’re about to starve.” she said, and she wasn’t kidding. I could see her ribs. My stomach clenched in empathy pain as I grimaced, my friends looking sick at the realization.

“We can help, can’t we? We can handle a little danger - you saw us with those Heartless. It’s our job to take those things out.” Sora said.

“Your job?” Nala asked incredulously. “Your king set cubs to hunt these things?!”

“Well, not him specifically, but he’s out fighting them too!” Goofy was quick to assure her. Nala sighed in relief, before giving us a thoughtful look.

“Well, I can’t say much for your reception, but I can spread the word that- oh, sorry, I never even got your names. I’m Nala, and you are?” she asked.

“I’m Donald, and these guys are Goofy, Sora, Kairi, Branwen, and Riku.” Donald said, introducing us in turn. Each of us gave a little wave in acknowledgement to help Nala see who was who. “Those four are adopted siblings, but we’re all friends.” he added, gesturing at me and my family. 

“I see. I’ll spread the word that Riku’s alright then. We’re a little...tetchy when it comes to the hyenas, you see.” Nala explained apologetically.

“Well, it’s not like I’m hard to miss.” I chuckled, and Nala joined in.

“No, I suppose you’re not.” she agreed. “As for how you can help...maybe you’re just what the kingdom needs.”

“As in, you want us to take on that Scar guy and all his hyenas?” Goofy asked in trepidation.

“What? No no no no no.” Nala protested. “You’re all just cubs, or, well, most of you are.” she said, before nodding to Donald and Goofy. “At least your king had the sense to send some of his retainers with you...Simba and I took great fun in losing ours. Stupid and dangerous, I know, but we were cubs then.” The lioness said, a faraway look in her eyes. 

Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their heads. “Simba?! You know Simba?” Sora asked. Nala startled, clearly not expecting us to recognize the name.

“What?! You know Simba?!” she asked, gaping.

“Well, yeah. He’s helped us out against the Heartless before.” Sora explained, before yelping as Nala got right in his face.

“You’ve met him?! Where is he?! Do you know where he is now?!” she demanded.

“Whoa, back off.” Kairi said, pendant bouncing against her chest as she stepped forward protectively. Nala winced and duly backed off.

“Sorry. It’s just, he’s the rightful king. Scar and the hyenas took over after our last king, Mufasa, and his son Simba died. But if you’ve met him, then he can’t be dead after all!”

“No, he was just fine when we saw him last.” Sora said.

“Yeah, but that was a year ago.” Donald pointed out. A look of excited hope lit up Nala’s eyes.

“It’s been years since Mufasa died. If you’ve seen Simba just last year, then that means he’s still alive!” she said excitedly, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “I have to tell the others about this. If - no, since Simba’s still alive, that means Scar doesn’t have an absolute claim to the throne anymore. If we can find him, we can overthrow Scar and end his reign of tyranny.” She smiled widely at us, looking like a huge weight had fallen from her shoulders. “You have no idea how good this news is for us. Thank you.”

“I’ve been in your position before, trapped and starving. Trust me, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” I said, a startled expression crossing Nala’s face at my words, before she just looked sympathetic. 

“Come on. You should meet with Rafiki.” she said. “If we’re going to overthrow Scar, then we’ll need everyone to be on the lookout for Simba. Might as well introduce you to the pride while we’re at it so you don’t get attacked.” she said while giving me a sheepish glance. I just chuckled.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it.” I said. Nala nodded, before looking worried.

“If I just bring you all in right now, Scar will definitely notice, and that won’t be good for any of us.” she warned. “If we arrive in separate groups though, we might be able to sneak by under his nose. I’ll go on ahead and make sure the other lionesses know what’s going on, okay? I’ll be waiting for you at Pride Rock.” she told us, before turning and bounding away.

“Pride Rock? Where’s- oh, she’s gone.” Kairi said, watching as Nala’s tail whipped around the corner.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll figure it out. I mean, at the very least it has to be that way, right?” Branwen questioned.

“Probably.” Goofy nodded. “We can always ask around if we get lost too.”

“Unless it’s a hyena who’s not me.” I joked, and everyone laughed.

“Of course you’re the closest thing to a dog the savannah has.” Branwen snickered.

“Wolf, thank you.” I sniffed imperiously, sending us all into another round of laughter. “Though to be fair, African wild dogs are a thing and they’re much closer to wolves since they’re canines and hyenas very much aren’t, but eh, semantics.” I said dismissively.

“Alright, alright, are we ready for this?” Sora asked, getting himself back under control.

“Wait. Riku, can you help us with this whole four legs thing?” Branwen asked.

“Oh yeah!” Sora exclaimed. I nodded.

“Yeah. Practice is really the best thing for this, which we’ll get as we go on. I’m sure those aren’t the only Heartless here.” I said, and everyone nodded in agreement. “Okay, so, sorry Donald, I can’t help you.”

“That’s alright. I’ll practice on my own while you teach the others!” he said, flying over toward Kairi who needed no practice, as she was still on two legs.

“Alright. So, your tails. Those are for balance, you see? Don’t get weirded out by them as you move, just let them do their thing. Your body instinctively knows what it’s doing, so don’t accidentally throw yourself off balance by getting surprised and jerking them around.” I advised. “Aside from that...practice, really. You guys aren’t used to moving around on fours, or holding your weapons in your mouths, so uh, you’re gonna need to do that. Get used to it, I mean.”

“Gee, thanks Riku.” Branwen snorted. I just shot him a half-baked glare.

“Hey, it just kind of all came to me naturally. I’m just trying to pass off what I’ve learned from it here.” I said defensively.

“Well, we’ll definitely be getting plenty of practice on the way to this Pride Rock place.” Goofy spoke up. 

“Yeah. Thanks for the tips, Riku.” Sora said, and I grinned at him. “C’mon guys, let’s go.” he added, directing this over his shoulder to Donald and Kairi, before padding off after where Nala had gone.

We encountered a few packs of Heartless along the way, and with every battle, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Branwen grew more and more used to their new body shapes. Soon they were fighting just as naturally as they had been before, and all the happier for it.

In the end, Pride Rock was pretty hard to miss - something like that could be seen for miles around, so it was a pretty safe bet that’s where Nala was headed. As we padded up to the base, I suddenly found it hard to swallow, taking in a scene from my childhood like this. A desolate scene, but...familiar. Nostalgic.

There was a flurry of activity at the base - lionesses talking with each other, some heading out while others looked like they were just coming back to the famous landmark. Each of them had the same light of hope shining in their eyes, and I knew they’d gotten the news alright.

“Oh, there you are!” Nala called, getting our attention as she padded down the stony ramp with the very recognizable form of Rafiki. “Rafiki, these are the ones I told you about.”

“Uh, he- hey!” Sora yelped as Rafiki suddenly got in his face, sniffing his spiky mane before turning over the crown charm on Sora’s necklace in his fingers. Suddenly losing interest, he leaned way into Branwen’s personal space next, getting a yelp of surprise from my twin, before surveying the rest of our group from where he stood. His eyes fell on Kairi’s necklace, and he looked thoughtful.

Rafiki suddenly burst out into laughter, startling all of us. “Hmmm...aha! Hahahaha! Yes, I see! Thank you for bringing news of Simba’s survival to us. We are in your debt.” he said, before bowing gratefully. 

“Gawrsh, we were just glad we could help.” Goofy said. Rafiki smiled, a single canine poking out from under his lip. There was something knowing in his gaze, like…

“Rafiki’s right. I can’t thank you enough for the news that my son is still alive.” An older lioness that could only be Sarabi came up and said.

“Your son?!” Donald, Goofy, and Sora shouted. Sarabi nodded.

“Yes. My name is Sarabi. When my mate, Mufasa, was killed in a stampede, his brother Scar told us my son had died with him.” she said, before her eyes hardened. “I spent years grieving both my son and mate. Put everything I had into supporting our new king, to carry the pride past this tragedy. Even when the land began to suffer under his reign, I supported him - what else could we do? He was our king, our support, our rightful leader. He was what we had.” Sarabi said, before a snarl crossed her face. “And now to hear that Scar’s been lying to us this whole time?” 

Sarabi’s claws flexed and dug into the earth in her agitation. “Scar isn’t worthy to sit on the throne - he’s more than proved that. And with Simba...with my son being alive, there’s finally a way to save the Pride Lands.” she said, before looking us right in the eyes. “I’ll have your back. If Scar tries to give you cubs trouble, I won’t let him get away with it.”

“Me too!” Nala agreed, before looking sheepish. “You should probably go before Scar notices you’re here.”

“Right.” Branwen said, before turning and beginning to pad away from Pride Rock. Unfortunately, it seems we’d been spotted - Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed came out from ahead, cutting us off, while three others planted themselves between us and Pride Rock, effectively pinching us between the two groups. We all settled into defensive stances, ready to summon our weapons in a heartbeat.

“Hey, it’s the snacks!” Banzai grinned. 

“Snacks? Naw, that’s a three course meal. How nice of you to have stuck around!” Shenzi said, leering at us.

“You sure taking on the six of us isn’t biting off more than you can chew?” I asked, glaring at her. “We’re no helpless infants.”

Shenzi scowled, opening her mouth to respond, before a loud roar from behind cut her off. The hyenas all looked over our heads, making us turn to see what had gotten their attention.

“Well would you look at that; here comes Scar, the king.” Banzai cackled.

“Nuggets.” Branwen and I hissed in unison, before giving each other startled and amused looks.

“Wait, that’s Pete up with him too!” Sora snarled, glaring daggers at the fat lion Pete standing next to Scar. The red lion gracefully made his way down from Pride Rock, and the trio of hyenas standing between us skittered back to stand with Banzai, Ed, and Shenzi instead. As for Pete...I had to bite down on my lower lip, trying desperately to hide a smile as he gingerly leapt from the rock, trying to follow Scar down, only to lose his balance, fall, and bounce from rock to rock before finally hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Branwen, on the other hand, had no such compunctions, and immediately snorted, and loudly at that. Donald and Goofy snickered, while Sora just facepalmed and Kairi and I exchanged wry looks.

“Very funny.” Pete growled, getting to his feet. “Ow, my back…”

“Alright, alright.” Kairi said, her expression growing serious. “What are you doing out here, Pete?”

“Aww, the little girlie’s worried about me.” Pete sneered, getting a scowl from my sister. “If I were you, I’d be more worried about your friends!”

The hyenas cackled, hunger and bloodlust in their eyes. Donald gulped.

“This isn’t good - we’re surrounded!” he said, panicking.

“Go on, ladies - you’ve got some hunting to do.” Scar said, smirking at the gathered lioness. Nala stepped forward, an unimpressed look on her face.

“With what? The herds have moved on, Scar. There is no prey to hunt.” she retorted.

“Why, Nala, then what do you call this?” Scar asked, gesturing to us, and I immediately wanted to hurl because Sora was a lion.

“Uh, cannibalism?!” I choked out. The lionesses looked equally as disgusted.

“Scar, these are cubs. Or are you so desperate for the approval of your...subjects, that you would toss anything at them without a second thought?” Sarabi spoke up, sneering at the hyenas, who just growled back at her. Clearly, there was plenty of bad blood between them and the lionesses.

“Why, Sarabi, prey is prey.” Scar said, a glint of twisted humor in his eyes. “Obviously the little brown runt isn’t for our consumption, but them on the other hand…” he said, gesturing with a paw to the hyenas behind us. Ed cackled in delight, loudly licking his chops in anticipation.

“I’ve heard enou-!” Sora began, only to falter as Sarabi launched herself at Scar, bowling him over.

“Go!” she snapped at us, before returning her attention to her fight. We didn’t hesitate, turning and bolting as the hyenas tried to attack. Dodging just in time to avoid the snap of a hyena’s jaws from closing around my leg, I pelted after my friends, surprised to see Nala join us.

“Follow me!” she said, easily taking point by virtue of her larger size. We didn’t complain, following her away from Pride Rock and the hyenas and further back into the brush. We didn’t stop running until we’d put a very sizable distance between us and Pride Rock, and it was clear the hyenas hadn’t followed us.

“I hope Sarabi’s okay.” I said worriedly, looking back toward Pride Rock.

“She’ll be fine. Sarabi’s one of the best, she can take care of herself.” Nala assured me, though that didn’t stop her from looking back at Pride Rock anxiously.

“So, what are we gonna do now?” Branwen asked. Nala sighed, before turning to us and giving us an encouraging smile.

“Well, we’re gonna look for Simba. Some of the lionesses Scar thinks are out hunting are actually scouring the Pride Lands for any sign of him.” Nala explained. “Nobody’s searching out over here yet, so we might as well take it.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Kairi nodded. Nala grinned at her, before turning toward the mess of cliffs ahead of us.

“Come on. This way.” she said, before leading us inside of a gorge. Eventually, we came to the edge of a cliff, a ravine carving through the way ahead, blocking the way forward.

“Whoa…” Sora breathed, looking down at the steep drop. I gulped, carefully backing away.

“Right. Where ar- Nala?!” I yelped, watching the lioness come flying past me to take a flying leap across the canyon, landing lightly on all four paws on the other side. I just gaped at her, stunned. She could jump that?

“Whoaaaa.” Everybody else said, equally as stunned.

“What’s wrong?” Nala called back, confused as to why we weren’t following.

“Are you crazy, we’d never make that jump!” I shot back, giving the ravine another uneasy glance. Nala sighed, before giving us a thoughtful look.

“...ess Rafiki...right…” I heard her mutter, and I frowned. What was she going on about over there?

“What?” Sora asked.

“Never mind. It’s not important. Just, give yourself a running start and let your momentum carry you across!” Nala shouted. “You can do it!”

“Okay.” Branwen said, backing up.

“Farther! Give yourself a decent amount of space!” Nala instructed. Branwen nodded, not that Nala could see him at that point, before taking a breath and bolting for the cliffside. I watched, heart in my mouth, as Branwen cleared the ravine, landing with a stumble beside Nala. 

Whew. Right. Kingdom Hearts physics.

“I’ll go next.” I said before I could chicken out, backing up to give myself more space. This wasn’t Earth - I could do this. It was all in my head. Don’t hesitate, just. Go!

I bolted forward, not giving myself time for second thoughts or to hesitate, taking a flying leap over the ravine and landing on the other side.

I’d, I’d done it. I’d jumped that whole freaking thing!

“Great job, Riku. Okay, back up you two, give the others some room.” Nala instructed, and we did so. First came Kairi, then Sora, and then Goofy, before Donald just flew over to join us, the lucky butt.

“Great job, all of you.” Nala praised us, getting shaky grins from our group. That had definitely been an adrenaline rush. “Now let’s keep going. There’s not really anywhere to live in the gorge, but I’m sure we’ll find something after it opens up.” she said.

“You don’t know?” Sora asked. Nala winced.

“Well, no. Like I said when we first met, I’d never left the Pride Lands before. But if we’re gonna find Simba, I have to.” she said, a determined look in her eyes.

“Yeah! We’ll find him.” Kairi agreed. We set off, making our way through the gorge. To my delight, the grayish rocks slowly became brown, and greenery began making itself known the further and further we went.

“The hyenas must not come this far out. There should still be prey over here!” Nala said excitedly. “I’ll have to remember this for when I get back.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Branwen agreed, before frowning at the verdant forest before us. “Wait, that’s a jungle over there? Why is that a jungle over there?” he asked, bewildered.

“There’s lots of different places to live.” Nala said, apparently unbothered by the geographical impossibility that was a jungle and a savannah sharing a border. Gotta love Disney man. “Now come on, there’s bound to be water and I’m thirsty.”

“Me too.” I admitted. It wasn’t long until we heard the sound of rushing water, and followed it until we came across a stream. I stepped forward, drinking eagerly from the water with Nala. Thirst quenched, I looked back at the others, who were clearly hesitant. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Is that water...safe?” Kairi asked, and then it dawned on me that drinking from a random stream wasn’t the smartest of ideas. Right. Old habits die hard I guess.

“Of course it is! Come on.” Nala said, and after a moment I nodded in agreement. Dubiously, the rest of the group gathered around. “I’m going to catch some prey. I haven’t eaten in far too long.” Nala sighed. “Can you guys look for Simba while I do that once you’re done here?”

“Sure.” Sora nodded. Nala flashed us a grateful smile, before turning and padding away into the lush undergrowth. I felt a flash of sympathy for her plight, as well as guilt knowing that she wouldn’t be eating fresh meat today. Maybe she’d get a meal of bugs? I had to resist snorting aloud at the mental image that brought up.

“Mmblep. Blep. Mmlep.” I looked over at Branwen to see him trying to copy what Nala and I had been doing to drink from the stream, only he didn’t know how to lap up water. He was just sticking his tongue in and trying to scoop it up and it was hilarious. 

“Nonono, B-Branwen, like, like this.” I said, struggling to keep my laughter under control as I bent my head down toward the stream. After a moment I turned my head sideways, to give him a better view. Actually- “Sora, you get over here too, you also don’t have the anatomy for normal drinking anymore.”

“Uh, alright.” Sora said, padding over to stand next to Branwen. 

“Okay, so, lapping works by sticking your tongue as deep into the water as it can go, curling it slightly backwards-”

“It goes BACKWARDS?!” Branwen shouted. I nodded, smiling. 

“Yep, that was about my reaction too.” I snickered. “Anyway, once you do that, you pull it back in as fast as you can. The pressure difference creates a water column, which you then bite down on and swallow. Here, I’ll show you.” I decided. 

Slowly, I stuck my tongue in the water, making sure they could see how it curled backward a little, and then yanked it back as fast as I could. It pulled up a small column of water, which I then bit down on and swallowed. 

“…Alright, did you get that?” I asked. Branwen and Sora just kind of stared at me. “Need me to do it again?”

“Yes please.” Sora admitted, and I duly demonstrated again. 

“It’ll be a bit awkward at first I’m sure but you’ll get the hang of it.” I reassured them. “Just be careful you don’t bite your tongue by accident!” Yay for automatically knowing how to do all this as Wolf Link. It took Sora and Branwen several tries before they were able to both get the water column going and bite down on it before it escaped, but soon they were drinking away. And nobody even bit their tongues!

Kairi’s head suddenly snapped to the side, drawing my attention from my brothers. “I saw red over there for just a second. Do you think it could be him?” she asked, turning her head back to face the rest of us.

“Well, Simba’s got a red mane, so it might be!” Sora said excitedly, pulling his head away from the water. “Let’s go check it out.”

Chapter Text

Bounding through the undergrowth, we soon emerged into a clearing, a cliff at its back and Simba standing proud against a group of flying Heartless. As we watched, he let out a fierce roar, the vocal attack dispersing them all into smoke. 

“Simba!” Sora called happily, running forward with Donald and Goofy to stand in front of their friend while Kairi, Branwen, and I followed at a more sedate pace. Simba dropped into a battle stance, understandably not recognizing his friends in their new forms. 

Sora skidded to a halt, confused and taken aback. “I-it’s me - Sora! Donald and Goofy are here too.” Sora said, confused and hurt. “Don’t you recognize us?”

“Sora, you’re a lion right now.” I pointed out dryly, stepping forward. My brother winced.

“Whoops, that’s right.” he said sheepishly, only to frown at the glare Simba was sending my way. Riiiiight. Ugh.

“What is a hyena like you doing here?” Simba snarled, and I rolled my eyes.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, will you take a look at my brother’s necklace and spiky mess of a mane already!” I griped. Baffled, Simba turned his head to look, before his eyes finally widened in recognition and he abandoned me in favor of leaping forward and nuzzling Sora, accidentally knocking him flat onto his back as he did so.

“Sora!” he grinned, before taking a closer look at Donald and Goofy. “And Donald and Goofy! What happened to you? And what are you all doing here? And in the company of a hyena!” Simba added, shooting me another dark look.

“Nice to meet you too.” I grumbled. Kairi just patted me on the shoulder sympathetically before also shooting Simba a dark look. Seems the future king of the Pride Lands wasn’t winning any points in her book.

“Hey, these are the friends we were looking for!” Sora protested, getting to his feet. “That’s Kairi, Riku, and Branwen. And we only look like this on your world, it’s-”

Wordless shrieking from Timon and Pumbaa cut off Sora’s explanation, and Simba’s eyes widened in shock.

“Help Simba! Heeelp!” Timon shouted.

“She’s gonna eat us!” Pumbaa shrieked.

“Timon?! Pumba?!” he called, before turning to look at us with worry clear in his eyes. “Something must’ve happened in the jungle! I have to go help my friends!”

Yeah, Nala happened. “We’re with you.” I promised. Simba looked startled at that, before leaping into the underbrush, followed by the rest of us. We raced through the jungle, coming out into another clearing, where Nala had Timon and Pumbaa cornered against the roots of a tree. She lowered herself into a crouch, ready to pounce, before Simba roared and jumped on her, bowling her over and knocking her back from his friends.

“Wait! Stop! That’s Nala!” Sora yelped as both lions began duking it out on the jungle floor. “Don’t you recognize her?!”

Evidently not, until Nala had Simba pinned flat on his back in a mirror of when they’d been cubs years ago. 

“Nala?” he asked, gaping. Nala’s growls cut off in her confusion, and she backed off Simba, letting him up. She sat back, clearly confused. “It’s me, Simba!” Simba added, getting to his feet.

Nala narrowed her eyes, inspecting him, before they widened in recognition. “Simba! You are alive!” she burst forward, both lions butting heads in a friendly manner before circling each other, grins on their faces.

Timon and Pumbaa gaped at the exchange, clearly baffled at how a battle between lions had turned into, well, this.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on here?!” the meerkat demanded. Hearing our footsteps as we approached, the pair turned around, and upon seeing a lion, hyena, and cheetah cub promptly panicked and ran screaming to cower behind Simba’s legs. Well, Timon did, Pumbaa simply ran to take cover at the base of another tree, hooves pinning his ears to the sides of his head like that would help him somehow. Simba just lowered his head, a fond smile on his face.

“Don’t worry. They’re all friends of mine.” he reassured them.

“So that means...nobody’s planning to eat anybody else for lunch, right?” Timon asked suspiciously. Branwen gaped, slack-jawed.

“What?! No!” he yelped. I gave him a quizzical glance. I guess he hadn’t put two and two together about who and what the lions ate...unless he assumed they weren’t talking animals? That was fair enough. The Lion King was...a little disturbing on that front, when you looked deeper at it.

“Are you sure they don’t wanna eat me, like I’m some kind of pig?!” Pumbaa shouted, still trembling from under the tree.

“Of course we won’t!” Donald protested, before frowning. “But...aren’t you already a pig?”

Pumbaa whirled around, getting to his feet in an impressively smooth movement. “That’s Mister Pig to you!” he announced imperiously, sending us all into a fit of laughter.

Ahh, Pumbaa. Never change.

Getting ahold of himself, Simba lowered his head to speak to Timon. “Could you guys excuse us for a few minutes?” he asked. Timon just gave him an unimpressed look.

“Why am I not surprised?” he asked, throwing up his hands. Simba just flashed him a grateful smile before padding over to Nala.

“This way.” he said, and led her back further into the jungle, in the direction of the Pride Lands actually. Not that they were actually going there; there was still the matter of the guilt Simba had been carrying around for something he hadn’t done.

Err, was carrying around. This wasn’t the end of the movie; I had to remember that still wasn’t resolved yet. Whoops. 

Timon sighed. “Man, how fast they grow. It feels like it wasn’t yesterday we were singing hakuna matata together.”

“Err, we were just singing it together yesterday.” Pumbaa pointed out, making me snicker.

“Oh yeah, that’s right!”

“Hakuna matata? What’s that?” Branwen asked curiously. Timon and Pumbaa gasped in mock horror.

“What’s hakuna matata?! Why, it’s only our motto, of course!” Pumbaa said.

“It means no worries...for the rest of your days. It’s our problem-free, philosophy!” Timon said, starting to transition to singing, before snapping his fingers as an idea came to him. “Hey! Why don’t you sing it with us!”

“Uh, okay?” Donald asked, a little taken aback. I just grinned widely at the pair.

“Sure!” I agreed. Timon and Pumbaa beamed at me back.

“That’s the spirit!” Pumbaa cheered. 

“Uh, but we don’t know the words.” Kairi pointed out hesitantly.

“That’s alright. Just do what we do!” Timon said happily, before bursting out into song. “Hakuna matata! What a wonderful phrase.”

“Hakuna matata! Ain’t no passing craze!” Pumbaa joined in.

“It means no worries, for the rest of your days!” Timon and Pumba sung in unison, doing a little dance as they did so. “It’s our problem-free, philosophy! Hakuna matata!” they finished, before gesturing towards us.

“Now you guys join in!” Timon said.

“Hakuna matata! What a wonderful phrase.” I started to sing, my friends and family joining in with more confidence now that someone was leading. “Hakuna matata! Ain’t no passing craze!”

“Now just one of you, go!” Pumbaa said, and I stepped up to the challenge.

“It means no worries, for the rest of your days!” I sang Simba’s solo, closing my eyes in a beaming grin. This was awesome! Also shamelessly cheating as I already knew the words by heart, but still fun!

“It’s our problem-free, philosophy!” Timon, Pumbaa, and I sang, everyone else quickly joining in when they realized that apparently it wasn’t a solo anymore. “Hakuna matata!”

“Now you’re gettin’ it!” Pumbaa cheered. “Now everybody line up!”

“Okay!” Sora said, bounding ahead to get behind Pumbaa, who was behind Timon. The rest of us followed, making a rather hilarious conga line of savannah animals. As Timon and Pumbaa started marching ahead, slowly swinging their heads back and forth, the rest of us copied them. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time.

“Hakuna...” Timon sang, leaving off the other word leadingly.

“Matata!” we all cheered.

“Hakuna!”

“Matata!”

“Hakuna!”

“Ma-!”

We were interrupted (rather rudely) by Nala storming past out of the undergrowth, a thunderous expression on her face.

“Nala? What’s wrong?” Goofy asked, concerned.

“He’s not the Simba I remember.” Nala snapped without looking back. “Something about ‘hakuna matata’...” she grumbled, before disappearing into the foliage.

“Uh, Simba? What was that about?” Sora asked. Simba just growled in frustration.

“Look, she wants me to go back, alright? But I can’t.” he said, before sighing and changing the subject. “I’m sorry we didn’t really get off on the right foot. I’m glad Sora, Donald, and Goofy were able to find you three.” Simba told us.

“Yeah. Me too.” Kairi agreed. I remained silent, thinking furiously. Kairi frowned, turning her head to look at me. “Riku?”

“I’ve been where they are. Starving, not knowing when or where your next meal is coming from, if it’s even coming at all.” I said, before looking Simba dead in the eye. “She’s desperate. They all are. Scar is slowly killing his kingdom, and there’s nothing they can do about it except get him off the throne. And they can’t do that without you.”

“I said I can’t go back!” Simba snarled, half-roaring at me. I held my ground.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” I asked gently. Simba blinked, surprised by my tone of voice.

“I...no. I can’t.” he said despondently, lowering his head.

“Then it’s alright.” I said, much to his shock. “You can only do what you can.”

“I...yeah.” Simba said, before looking up at the sky. “It’s getting late. You’re welcome to join us for dinner, and stay here for the night, if you want.”

“Yeah. Thanks Simba.” Branwen said. Simba gave him a small grin.

“Of course. What are friends for?” he asked, before turning to look at me. “I’m...sorry I lost my temper. Thank you for understanding.” he said, and I nodded.

“Time to rustle up some grub!” Timon said, rubbing his hands together excitedly at how literal that was. Oh man, everyone’s faces when they saw our dinner was going to be great. “This way!” 

“What are we looking for?” Goofy asked curiously.

“You’ll know it when you- aha! That looks like the perfect spot!” Pumbaa said, before trotting over to a fallen, mossy-covered log and flipping it over with his tusks. “Tadaaa!”

“You want us to eat bugs?!” Donald yelped in dismay.

“Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. They’re actually pretty good.” Simba said, before lowering his head and tucking in.

“There’s no way I’m gonna eat that.” Donald said, before squawking in alarm as I padded up to the log. “What are you doing?!”

“Eating?” I pointed out, before snatching up a beetle in my jaws and biting down. “Huh, nice and crunchy.” I mused, chewing a couple more times before swallowing.

“You’re seriously- no, of course you are.” Kairi said, shaking her head, before approaching the log. “Well, when in Rome and all that.”

Yeah, my siblings had picked up a lot of sayings from me, even if they didn’t always know what they meant. It was actually quite funny when I thought about it, given that Rome didn’t exist here. Or maybe it did in the Hunchback of Notre Dame world? 

“Try this one - it’s nice and creamy inside!” Timon said, shoving a fat caterpillar at Kairi.

“Okay…” she said, before taking a bite and immediately making a face. “Not this one.” she managed, practically shoving it back at Timon before snatching up a beetle and immediately chewing on it. “This is better.”

“Aren’t they? Try these ones here; slimy, but satisfying.” Pumbaa said proudly, gesturing at a group of long, wriggling worms of some kind.

“Okay.” Branwen said, bravely leaning over and taking a bite. “...Huh. They are.” he said, pulling the worm out of the log entirely and eating it from there.

“I’m still not eating any of that!” Donald insisted, much to Goofy’s amusement.

“C’mon, you’re not even gonna try some?” he asked, popping a red caterpillar into his mouth. “Some of ‘em are pretty good.”

“No way!” Donald shouted, making us laugh.

“Suit yourself.” Timon shrugged, before his eyes lit up as he snatched something out of the log. “Oooh, egg sac!”

Good food or not, I noticed that I ate the most out of our group. It wasn’t surprising; before Hollow Bastion I’d’ve been the same way. I mean, it was bugs we were eating after all. There was only so much exotic food you could take in at once. But, well...Hollow Bastion. So I ate until I was full.

Simba definitely ate more than all of us combined - he was a fully grown lion, and the amount of bugs he needed to eat to get the protein he needed was just insane. How he hadn’t inadvertently wiped out the insect population in the area I had no idea.

After dinner, we settled down in a clearing for the night. Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa were happy curling up in the grass, while Kairi snapped off a large leaf for us to use as a blanket and settled down on the dirt beside Sora, Branwen, and I. Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy found a patch of clover to sleep in, and were sprawled over it haphazardly. Yawning, I curled up into my twin brother’s fur before closing my eyes, and let the soothing sounds of the waterfalls in the background lull me to sleep.

~*~

“...know...how Riku stands it…”

“Can’t...either?”

“Yeah…”

I blearily peeled one eye open, giving Sora and Donald a gimlet glare. “‘M tryin’ t’ sleep.” I complained groggily. They winced. 

“Sorry Riku.” they said, before lying back down. I closed my eye and relaxed, hoping to fall back asleep soon. I could hear rustling occasionally from where Sora was supposed to be sleeping, before he let out an aggravated sigh and stood up, padding off into the undergrowth. Guess he couldn’t sleep. Donald went after him, and the camp fell quiet.

I slipped back into a doze, only to be woken again by more voices. I dragged an eyelid open to see Goofy walking over toward me.

“Oh Riku, you’re awake.” he said, surprised.

“Jus’ barely.” I groaned. “What is it?”

“Simba’s gone. I think we should go after him.” Sora said nervously. I frowned. Why had he…? Oh. Oh. I yawned, lifting my head to look up at the sky. Still dark. But hadn’t this happened just before morning?

Right. “Alright, I’m coming.” I said, getting up and stretching. Looking around, I saw the whole camp was awake.

“C’mon. Donald and I saw him go this way.” Sora said, before leading us through the jungle to another cliff, this one overlooking a wasteland.

“My father’s dead. And it’s because of me. It’s my fault.” Simba was saying mournfully to himself as we gathered in the undergrowth a ways behind him, not wanting to interrupt. I looked up at the stars in interest, waiting. “I can’t go back...it won’t change anything.” 

There was silence for a while, the lion in front of us clearly lost in his thoughts, before he looked back up at the stars. “Father...are you there?” he asked in a wavering voice.

Purple clouds began to gather in the sky, creating a backdrop against the starry night for a certain someone to walk through.

“Simba…” a regal voice whispered, the starry black silhouette of a lion padding forward through the clouds. It became more defined, until I could clearly see Mufasa standing before us, even if he was still translucent against the clouds.

“Simba...you have forgotten me.” Mufasa said. I could only imagine the look of horror on Simba’s face as he frantically shook his head.

“No! How could I?” he whispered.

“You have forgotten who you are, and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the Circle of Life.”

“How can I go back?! I’m not who I used to be.” Simba protested. Light shone brighter through the clouds as Simba spoke, and they circled around his father, who was now in full color. Mufasa stood from within the clouds, looking just the same as when he had been alive, a window to the afterlife lighting up the sky.

Just the same...except for his dead, white eyes.

“Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king.” Mufasa told him, the colors beginning to fade from the sky, returning him to the starry silhouette he had once been. “Remember who you are.”

“No! Please! Don’t leave me!” Simba begged desperately as his father could no longer be seen in the clouds, bounding forward to stand at the very edge of the cliff.

“Remember…”

“Father!”

“Remember…”

“Don’t leave me.” Simba whispered, the last of the clouds fading out into the night, the first sliver of dawn beginning to creep up over the horizon. 

“Remember…” Mufasa’s voice echoed one last time, soft as a whisper, before falling silent.

“...You weren’t kidding when you said the afterlife was real.” Branwen breathed out in awe and shock. Simba just sighed, barely bothering to even look over his shoulder as he spoke.

“You can all come out now.” he said dryly, clearly unimpressed. Branwen flinched, before standing up, and I followed him out of the foliage as we all revealed ourselves.

“...Holy hannah, you weren’t kidding about the kings of the past being up there.” Timon gaped. That’s right, he and Pumbaa had made fun of him for it. I couldn’t help but snicker at the reminder. Timon shot me a glare for it, while Simba just huffed in amusement.

“Are you alright?” I asked Simba, concerned. That had been a pretty big moment for him. The lion nodded, before giving us all a soft smile.

“Yes.” he said, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opened them again, he stood firm and resolute. “I’m going back to face my past. I could use your help.”

“Of course.” Kairi smiled.

“He really is a king…” Timon murmured. I squinted as just enough of the sun peaked up to start blinding me, the glare harsh on my eyes. I had to admit, it made for an impressive scene, highlighting Simba from the back. Even if it hurt.

“Isn’t it a bit dark though?” Donald pointed out, concerned. “And we should find Nala first!”

“Nala...you’re right. Come on.” Simba said, bounding forward and racing past us back into the jungle. When we caught up to him, he was already with Nala, and they both turned to face us as we arrived.

“Simba changed his mind. He says he’ll help us.” Nala said, a clear note of relief in her voice. “We’ve got to go back right away.”

“It has gotten brighter.” I said, glancing up at the sky. Nala nodded.

“By the time we reach the Pride Lands, the last of the darkness will be gone.” she said. “Let’s go.”

“Right.” Sora nodded. Unfortunately, the journey back was delayed by a few groups of Heartless, but not for long. Nala hadn’t been quite correct though; it was much brighter out, that was true, but entirely overcast, with clouds dark and heavy with rain. Still, we made our way onward, pressing toward Simba’s homeland.

And, when we got to the Pride Lands...it almost physically hurt to see the agonized expression on Simba’s face. The barren, dying state of the Pride Lands was so different from the lands full of life he remembered. 

“What...what happened here?” he breathed, horrified.

“Scar.” Nala said grimly. “He and his hyenas overtaxed the land. The herds moved on, and without them, we’ve been forced to go farther and farther in search of food. We’ve even been gnawing at the plants to try and lessen the hunger pains. But as you can see, even that is dying.” she said despondently. “Everything is out of balance, and Scar has no interest in putting it to rights. The only way to fix the Pride Lands is to get him off your throne.”

“I see.” Simba said grimly.

“So, lemme get this straight. We’re really fighting your uncle for this?” Timon asked incredulously. Simba turned his head and nodded.

“Yes, Timon. This is my home. And if there’s any chance to fix it, then I have to try.” he told him.

“I thought home was where your rump was?” Pumbaa asked. I snorted out a laugh, not having expected that.

“Home is where the heart is. And right now, Simba’s heart is here.” I said.

We wasted no time in heading straight for Pride Rock. As we approached, we drew the attention of the lionesses gathered at the base, whose faces all lit up in delight at the sight of Simba.

“Simba!”

“You’re alive!”

“I knew it!”

“Simba!” Sarabi said, bursting forward and nuzzling her son. “Simba. You’re here.”

“I’m home.” Simba said, before raising his head. “Home and here to fight Scar.” 

Thunder rumbled ominously overhead, underscoring his words. Sarabi just looked grim.

“He’s inside Pride Rock.” she told him. Simba nodded, before climbing up the rocky ramp to reach the ledge. We followed just in time to hear Scar’s gasp at the sight of his nephew.

“Simba! You’re...alive!” Scar gaped, backing up in the face of Simba’s approach.

“The Pride Lands don’t belong to you.” Simba told him.

“Simba’s the rightful king!” Nala agreed, glaring at Scar.

“The choice is yours, Scar. Either step down, or fight.” Simba said, laying down the ultimatum.

“Must this all end in violence?” Scar asked with a wavering voice. Kairi just snorted.

“Says the lion who tried to feed a bunch of kids to the lionesses and hyenas.” she pointed out, getting a wide-eyed look of shock from Simba.

“What?!” he yelped.

“It’s true. Nala and Sarabi protected us though.” Sora told him. Simba whipped his head back to glare at Scar, anger in his eyes.

“So, what will it be, Scar?” he asked.

“Well...I’d so hate to be responsible for the death of a family member, Simba…” Scar began, getting a flinch from the lion in question.

“I’ve put the past behind me.” Simba retorted.

“But what about your faithful subjects? Have they?” Scar pressed. The lionesses glanced between each other, concerned, before Nala took a step forward.

“Simba, what’s he talking about?”

“Go on. Tell them who’s responsible for Mufasa’s death!” Scar said, slinking around Simba, and anger burned in my veins. This was just despicable, manipulating Simba like this...but he’d be getting his shortly.

“...I am.” Simba admitted, heartbroken. The lionesses gasped in shock at the news.

“Simba...tell me it’s not true.” Sarabi said, half begging her son, searching his face desperately for any hint of a lie.

“He admits it! Murderer!” Scar snarled, thunder booming overhead as he advanced menacingly toward Simba. His nephew’s eyes widened, and he shook his head frantically.

“No, i-it was an accident!” Simba protested. Scar pressed forward, a snarl on his face, backing Simba toward the edge of Pride Rock.

“If it weren’t for you Mufasa would still be alive.” Scar sneered. “You’re in trouble again, but this time daddy isn’t here to save you. And whose fault is that?”

A stricken expression crossed Simba’s face, before it turned to one of alarm as his back paw slipped off the edge of Pride Rock. He yelped, just barely grabbing onto the edge with his claws, desperately clinging to the stone. Lightning struck from nowhere, starting the brush beneath Pride Rock on fire, which quickly spread to the parched grass around it, igniting a roaring blaze burning below Pride Rock. Scar leaned forward, and while what he said was unintelligible to our ears, I knew exactly what he was saying. How familiar this scene was, because this was exactly how Mufasa looked when he died. Because Scar was the one who murdered him.

Scar leapt forward as Simba slipped, slamming his claws into his wrists. He leaned forward to whisper in his ear, and I heard the words echoing in my head as clearly as if he’d spoken them into mine instead.

I killed Mufasa.

“Nooooo!” Simba roared, anger lending him the strength to throw himself back up over the ledge and onto Scar, bowling him over onto his belly, where Simba had him pinned. “Murderer!” he screamed. “Liar! Tell them the truth!” he demanded, his paw pressing into Scar’s throat. Scar said something, only for Simba to press down harder.

“Say it so they can all hear you!” he growled. 

“Fine! I killed Mufasa!” Scar spit out.

Cackling from the hyenas revealed that they’d come out in force to reinforce their king, with Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed specifically tackling Simba off of Scar. Roaring in rage, the lionesses swarmed the hyenas, and even though the hyenas had the strength of numbers on their side, the lionesses were ready and willing to fight. Scar took the opportunity to scramble deeper into Pride Rock like the coward he was, abandoning his subordinates to their fate.

“Simba, we’ll handle this! You go deal with Scar!” Sora told him, all of us summoning our weapons to fight. Simba nodded gratefully before making for the den, and the hyena that tried to pounce on him got body-checked by yours truly. I swung Midnight Blue to whack him over the head with it, and he dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, out cold. I turned in time to see the hilarious sight of Pumbaa barreling through the horde of hyenas, unfortunate individuals being sent flying from swipes of his head.

Snickering, and uncaring of the hyena cackle echoing in my voice, I whirled around to point Midnight Blue at a trio of hyenas harassing Zazu. “Fund- ack!” Dropping Midnight Blue, I tried again. “Thundara!”

Electricity burst from above my head to impact with the hyenas, sending them sprawling with yipes of pain. I lunged in, Midnight Blue reappearing in my jaws, and took them on in close range, keyblade against fangs, until the sudden whack of a stick to the skull sent one hyena flying away, bouncing painfully off the stone.

“Rafiki?” I asked - which I actually could manage to say around my keyblade, nice - before raising my head and firing off a ring of light to knock back the other two who tried using my moment of distraction against me.

“It is I!” he cheered, before leaping into the fray with a whoop, striking out with hand and stick, sending hyenas flying back with each powerful blow. Between the two of us, we cleared out the hyenas by the den entrance, and once we had the time to breathe I looked up to see the rest of them fleeing from Pride Rock, pursued by the lionesses into the flames below. I guess they’d rather risk fleeing across a flaming savannah than continue a losing battle against the lionesses.

“Come on! Simba might need us!” Donald squawked, and I nodded in agreement, letting Midnight Blue dematerialize. My friends and I banded together before racing into the den, quickly finding the uneven rocky ramp and ascending it to the top of Pride Rock, where we could see Simba and Scar circling each other, snarling. Branwen went to leap into the fray, only for my brother to stretch out a paw to stop him.

“Wait. This is Simba’s fight.” he said. Branwen just looked confused.

“What? We can’t just leave him to fight Scar alone!” he protested.

“This is about who’s worthy to be king. Simba has the rightful claim, but if he can’t best Scar in combat then there’s no way he can take the throne from him.” I explained mournfully. “As much as it sucks, this is a fight he has to fight alone.”

As though on an unspoken signal, both lions rushed each other, exchanging blows. They reared up onto their hind legs, batting at each other’s faces, before dropping back down to all fours and lunging at each other. A hefty blow from Scar knocked Simba over, and when the lion pounced, Simba kicked up his hind legs, catching Scar in the stomach and sending him flying over the edge of Pride Rock and into the inferno below.

“Uh, I think that’s a win for him.” Branwen commented, and I sniggered. Simba sighed in relief, before turning to look at us with a small smile.

“It’s over.” he agreed.

“Not so fast!” A very familiar voice announced, and I groaned as Pete came up the stony ramp. “That was just a sneak preview - you see, anger and jealousy has turned the king of Pride Rock into a Heartless!”

“What?!” Simba yelped, and we all whirled back around in time to see one black paw reach up and dig its claws into the edge, and then another, before the newly born Heartess pulled itself back up onto the rock. 

King’s Folly. A black, shadowy lion with a mane and tail tip of flame stood before us, a splintered crown of bone floating above its head, shards pulsing as they lengthened and shortened at random intervals. And to top it all off, there was a single scar over his left eye painted in bright, blazing red.

This…was new. But it also made more sense than Scar becoming a ‘human’ Heartless appearance-wise. A strong heart and a strong darkness sure but they’d’ve mentioned it if Scar was like Ansem considering all the hoopla around that.

“Are you kidding me?!” Kairi shouted, her staff materializing in her hands.

“Looks like he’s not.” I growled, Midnight Blue at the ready.

“Oh, your kingdom’s gonna rise again…” Pete guffawed. “But this time, as the Pride Lands of Darkness!”

“Not gonna happen!” Simba snarled. Lightning flashed, blinding us, and thunder boomed as King’s Folly roared, lunging straight for Simba with murderous intent. Not being an idiot, Simba dodged aside before scoring his claws across King’s Folly’s side, getting a roar of pain from the Heartless, before a circle of flame burst out from his body, making all of us backpedal to avoid getting burned.

“Soak the ground! Let’s put this guy- aaah!” Donald yelped as King’s Folly pounced, rolling across the ground with Donald in his claws in an explosion of feathers.

“Donald!” we shouted in unison, and I shot a Blizzara at the Heartless’s butt as Sora took the Kingdom Key to its face. It worked, as King’s Folly was abruptly more focused on the pain than Donald, and the mage was able to get away before reigning down retribution in the form of an Aeroga.

Simba let out a concussive roar, staggering King’s Folly, before the Heartless bellowed in rage and summoned a circle of fireballs again. The circle began to spin rapidly around before slinging the fireballs that made it up everywhere. Branwen, Simba, Goofy, and I yelped as we were too slow to dodge and got burned for our trouble. 

“Cura!” I hissed out through my keyblade, healing Simba’s burns as darkness burst out in an aura around my twin brother as Midnight Blue vanished from his jaws.

“Hey butthole!” He shouted, getting the Heartless’s attention as he pounced on it, knocking King’s Folly flat onto its back. Branwen shoved both paws into King’s Folly’s eyes and practically snarled out “Dark Thundara!”, hitting it point blank with the Dark Thunder spell I still couldn’t figure out. I mean, I’d been a little distracted recently but still. I needed to get back on that.

King’s Folly roared in pain, sending Branwen flying backward with a yelp with a kick from its powerful hind legs, only to get light magic rained down in its face thanks to Kairi. Growling, it turned on her, only to get distracted by way of Sora slamming the Kingdom Key into its face. Again.

“Blizzaga!” Donald shouted, pointing the staff in his talons at King’s Folly and launching the mother of all ice boulders into the startled Heartless’s chest, knocking the wind out of it. Roaring, Simba pounced, but King’s Folly rolled out of the way in just the nick of time. Unfortunately for it, I sent a light Skyward Strike flying at it from where I stood. King’s Folly roared in pain as the attack hit, backing up a step. Flames burst from its body again, knocking Simba back, before King’s Folly let out a roar and shot them all at us. 

While we were busy dodging, Goofy took a fireball directly on his shield before charging forward and slamming it right into the Heartless’s face. It staggered back, stunned, and Simba pounced on the opportunity. With a roar, he struck King’s Folly right in the chest, getting an ear-splitting shriek of pain and an exploding crown of bone for his trouble. Simba yelped as one of the shards carved a line across his cheek as it whizzed by, bone shards flying everywhere as the Heartless stumbled, before collapsing with a moan. After a moment, it burst into dark smoke, leaving nothing behind - not even the shards of bone.

There was a muffled boom of thunder, before the clouds finally released their rain, beginning to put out the fires blazing around Pride Rock. It was like the heavens themselves had decided to wash away the remnants of Scar’s reign in preparation for Simba’s. Our weapons dematerialized from our mouths - or in Kairi and Donald’s case, their hands and talons - and we could finally relax.

“Whew. That was a tough one.” Branwen said, wincing as he accidentally pulled on one of his burns. “Cura.”

“Here, Simba. Curaga.” Donald said, healing the new king of Pride Rock, who nodded his thanks.

“Yeah. But it’s over now, and for real this time.” Simba said, before scowling and looking around the rock. It occurred to me that he was looking for Pete only a moment before he gave it up as a bad job. “And it looks like that Pete guy ran off. Good riddance.”

“Ahyup! He’s a coward, that Pete.” Goofy said. “He shouldn’t be back anytime soon, but if he is, well, I know you can take him!”

Simba nodded, before making his way to the ramp. He turned back to look at us, before a smile grew on his face. “Come on. It’s time for me to take my throne.”

I took one last look at where Scar had fallen as the others began to follow Simba down, and honestly had to wonder if he’d created a Nobody up here. I grimaced at the thought. That would be...something. Probably not though. Didn’t know if his heart was strong enough. And didn’t Yen Sid say something about how at times a person with a strong heart will have their body become a Nobody? I mean, that made sense, didn’t it? Otherwise we’d be overrun with Nobodies, unless what I pictured was a strong heart was actually below the requirements of one. Who knew.

Actually wait, I was thinking about human Nobodies. Dusks and other lesser Nobodies showed up all the time, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Scar became one of those. Because Sora aside, with a Heartless like that, there’s no way he wouldn’t have created a Nobody along with it. Which…meant recompletion. Eventually. Maybe. Depends on his luck, but either way he’d find no warm welcome waiting for him. Just a second death.

Following the others down, we saw the lionesses gathering around the base of the rock, and I moved to join them. After a moment, everybody else followed, and we watched Simba make his way over to the very edge before opening his jaws and roaring his victory to the heavens. The lionesses around us joined in, and after a moment so did Sora. Given that I was a hyena, I howled instead. Watching Branwen try and fail was hilarious; cheetahs didn’t have the bone structure necessary to roar. He shrunk in on himself in embarrassment, and I saw Kairi pat him sympathetically on the shoulder, having understandably chosen not to try and join in herself. He shot her a thankful grin.

Simba gave a final roar, before lowering his head back down. I smiled as light began to poke through the clouds, the rain coming to a stop as the clouds exhausted their stores. What was left of them began to gather together, swirling in a circle as the window to the afterlife opened a second time. Mufasa stood proudly before his son, a beam of light falling from the afterlife to shine upon Simba.

And then Mufasa began to glow with a familiar light.

I blinked, surprised that the dead spirit of Mufasa was the key, before summoning Midnight Blue, gathering power at its tip as the familiar Triforce pattern spread out beneath me, the keyhole appearing in the sky above us in Mufasa’s place. I raised my head and pointed Midnight Blue at the newly revealed keyhole, unlocking it, mentally wincing at the light show. Hopefully the lionesses would take it as part of the insanity that was their dead king showing up in the sky…

“Hey, what’s with the light show?” Timon gaped, and speak of the devil.

“Did you or did you not just see the late king Mufasa again?” I asked rhetorically. Timon spluttered, but seemed to accept that answer. Didn’t mean he was any less incredulous about it, but he at least accepted it, and that was the important part.

“Timon, Pumbaa, Simba, Nala,” Sora began, getting the attention of our friends. “We have to say goodbye for a little while.”

“What? But you just got here!” Nala protested.

“Yeah, but we have our own enemies to fight. It won’t be goodbye forever, just for a little while. We’ll visit when we get the chance.” I promised them.

“Well, alright.” Simba said sadly. “Be safe out there, okay? It’s a crazy world out there, know what I mean?” he said, emphasizing the word ‘world’. It took me a second to remember that he’d been a summon gem, and thus had seen and experienced the worlds beyond, learning about the rules governing them in the process. Just like Mushu had.

“Yeah, sure is.” Sora agreed with a grin. “We’ll be seeing you. Take care, alright?”

“We will.” Simba promised. With a happy wave, Sora turned and began making his way down the rocky, uneven steps down from the ledge of Pride Rock to the ground, the rest of us right on his heels. As we made our way from Pride Rock, I couldn’t help but look back at the prominent landmark of my childhood, and smile at the nostalgia that still filled my heart at the sight of it.

“You know...when we come back here, I wanna see it green.” I murmured.

“Yeah. Green and healthy.” Kairi agreed.

“It’ll probably take a while to get there though.” Donald pointed out.

“Yeah. Scar really did a number on the place.” Goofy agreed.

“It might not be when we come back next, but eventually, the Pride Lands’ll be green again. And when they are, we’ll definitely have to come back and visit.” Sora said, and I nodded in agreement.

“Now come on! I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry! I haven’t eaten all day!” Donald complained.

“And whose fault was that?” I fired back teasingly, making all of us burst out laughing at the memory.

“I agree with Donald. Whatever we end up getting, it’s not gonna be bugs - I’ve had enough of those to last me a lifetime.” Kairi agreed, chortling.

“I dunno, they didn’t taste that bad.” I said, a mischievous grin on my face.

“That’s because Hollow Bastion messed up your taste buds!” Sora retorted, sending all of us into another laughing fit.

“So, Maurice’s for dinner?” Kairi asked, and everyone made various noises of assent.

“Maurice’s for dinner it is then.” I said happily, a skip to my step. There was nothing like having a good meal with friends to really lift your spirits.

I was really looking forward to when Remy opened up shop in Kingdom Hearts Three. 

Chapter Text

After a nice, hearty dinner of definitely-not-bugs and a good night’s sleep at Maurice’s bread and breakfast, we made our way over to Twilight Town, which just so happened to be where our newest connection led to for whatever reason. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t figure that one out. 

Oh well. 

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen Hayner, Pence, and Olette.” Branwen said happily, kicking his legs back and forth in his seat as we began our descent. “It’ll be great to introduce you all to our friends for once!” he added, making us all crack up.

“Yeah. You guys’ll like them.” I agreed as Kairi gently set us down in the woods by the old mansion we’d left just after the end of summer. It was…the beginning of October now, I realized - jeez, had it really only been a little over a month since Kingdom Hearts Two kicked off? It felt like so much longer.

The doors popped open, and we happily piled out of the gummi ship to stretch our legs after the flight.

“Alrighty guys. We, uh…” Branwen trailed off, frowning. “Wait, we couldn’t leave the mansion the whole time we were here before, so...where would Pence, Olette, and Hayner be now?”

“Gosh, maybe we should look around town for ‘em!” Goofy suggested. I nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed. That settled, we made our way into Twilight Town, taking in the new sights. Or familiar sights, for me.

“H-help! The sandlot! It’s Seifer!” Vivi wailed, running toward us from further down the street. “Somebody please help us!” he shrieked, running right by.

“The sandlot - isn’t that where Hayner practices Struggle?” Branwen asked.

“Struggle?” Sora questioned. Branwen nodded.

“Yeah. It’s a game that’s really popular here in Twilight Town.” he said, before looking back down the street where Vivi had come running from. “But that’s not important right now. Right now there’s somebody who needs our help.”

“Right!” Sora said, and we all took off down the street. The sandlot wasn’t too hard to find, thankfully, and we got there just in time to see Seifer and his two friends surrounded by a horde of Dusks. Said friends were already sprawled out unconscious on the ground, while Seifer was trying to push himself up before his arms gave out from under him and he nearly faceplanted onto the ground.

“We’ll take it from here!” Sora shouted, planting himself in between Seifer and the Nobodies in front of him. The rest of us made a circle around the trio, weapons out and ready for a fight.

Naturally, that’s when the Nobodies had to spring into action, and I sent one flying back into the brick wall with a well-placed light Skyward Strike to the gut. The Dusk next to it slithered in to engage me at close range, fighting claws against keyblade. 

An explosion of light next to me told me what Kairi was doing, but I didn’t let it distract me from feinting for the stomach before striking the Dusk in the head. It staggered, and I took the opportunity to point my offhand directly at it.

“Fira!” I cast, flames leaping from my left hand to engulf the hapless Dusk in front of me. It shrieked in pain, flailing about in agony, making it easy to rush in and take it out.

Thankfully, while there’d been too many Dusks for Seifer and his friends to take on alone, between the six of us we made short work of them. 

“Impressive.” I heard Seifer say, turning around t- no wait that wasn’t Seifer that wasn’t Seifer!!

A man in a hooded black coat mockingly applauded us, and I scowled in response. Saix. That sadistic monster of a Nobody - thank heavens Kairi was here with us and not kidnapped by those lunatics. I had no desire for any of us to go through that.

One less weapon for them to stab into our hearts.

“By the way, have you seen a man named Axel?” Saix asked. I frowned. Axe- oh right! Axel was looking for Roxas. I’d convinced him and Zion to jump ship much sooner than in canon, which was pretty much the only reason why three of us killing Heartless with keyblades at once hadn’t super sped the artificial Kingdom Hearts to an early completion. Which, no. That would be terrible.

That didn’t mean that we didn’t need to stop Xemnas as soon as possible though. I didn’t know how long we had until that buffer ran out - if it hadn’t already - and it was terrifying.

“Ax- you mean Roxas and Zion’s friend?” Branwen questioned. Saix just looked at him in surprise.

“So he told you?” he asked, before snorting. “He and Axel always loved to play house. But their supposed ‘friendship’ was nothing more than an illusion.”

“No it wasn’t!” Kairi snapped, her staff held at the ready. Saix just let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Children.” he said, slowly shaking his head. “I forgot how stubborn and unreasonable they are.”

“Hey, we’re right here you know!” Sora shouted, anger written all over his face.

“So you are.” Saix said apathetically. “Just know that Axel is not acting in the best interests of the Organization. As for this ‘Zion’...” Saix trailed off, and I could practically hear him frowning under his hood. “I do not know why she claimed to be Axel’s friend, but be rest assured they have never met.” he said, and oh was he going to kick himself about this later when he remembered. I just wished I could see it. 

Wait, ‘she’. None of us had told him her gender. I had to resist a smile at seeing something slip through the blocks on his memory. He didn’t even realize it, that there was something that should’ve been there but wasn’t, but deep down his heart still knew. 

“Yeah, whatever. You’re wrong.” Donald said. “Now shut up and fight! Graviga!”

Saix choked, the sudden, unexpected attack catching him off guard. The Graviga prevented him from getting away from Goofy and Branwen before their shield and keyblade hit him - hard. Staggering back, his hood falling back to reveal his face, Saix growled before summoning Lunatic. I was quick to dart in front of Branwen to catch the blade on the body of my keyblade, straining audibly at the effort of holding the man back. My friends didn’t let me down - Kairi rained stars of light down onto his head, forcing him to disengage and leap back, only for Branwen to catch him with a wave of darkness. Now rather pissed, Saix turned and lunged at Branwen, only for Goofy to jump in front of him, Lunatic’s strike bouncing off his shield.

“Dark Aerora!” Branwen shouted, jumping up to fire off the spell above Goofy’s head, only for Nobody to dodge it with a sneer of contempt. Saix changed targets, charging toward Kairi at a terrifyingly fast pace, only for her to slam her staff down with a yelp, a dome of light exploding out from her body and hitting the shocked Luna Diviner in the face, sending him flying back. Sora was happy to add insult to injury by way of the Kingdom Key to the face.

“Enough!” Saix roared, rolling to his feet and looking this close to losing it. “Your true enemies are the Heartless, chosen of the keyblade. Focus on that.” he snarled, before opening a Corridor of Darkness and backing into it. I was pleased to see that he was physically holding a tear in his black coat on the right shoulder closed - that trip back’s gonna suck for him. Good.

“What was he talking about?” Kairi asked, confused. I frowned.

“I dunno. But he seemed really interested in getting us back to fighting them rather than him.” I commented, thinking rapidly of ways to reasonably tie this into the whole mess with heart collection and stuff. No dice - I wasn’t coming up with anything.

“Hey. How ‘bout you get out of my town now? You’ve caused enough trouble.” Seifer - and it was actually Seifer this time - said, glaring at us with his arms crossed in front of his chest. His two friends stood on either side of him, also giving us dark looks.

“That’s gratitude for you.” Donald complained.

“Look, we’re just here to visit some friends of ours, alright?” I said, stepping in before this turned into an unnecessary fight. “Have you seen Hayner, Pence, and Olette around?”

“You’re friends with those losers?” Seifer scoffed, Branwen and I both bristling angrily at the insult to our friends. “Whatever. They tend to hang around in a back alley, I’ll show you where.” he said, before turning and raising his hand to make a ‘come on’ gesture. We glanced at each other before following, Seifer taking us down a winding route until we stopped at a very familiar alleyway.

“Hey losers! You’ve got some friends of yours lookin’ for you, apparently.” Seifer shouted derisively at the entrance to the Usual Spot before turning and walking off, his two buddies right behind him. Hayner ripped the blanket flap serving as the door to their hangout aside, a scowl on his face, before his eyes lit up at seeing Branwen and I.

“Branwen! Riku! You’re back!” he cheered, before turning his head and yelling into the Usual Spot, “Hey guys! Riku and Branwen are here!”

“What?!”

“Coming!” Olette and Pence yelped, nearly running Hayner over in their haste to come out and see for themselves.

“Riku! Branwen! It’s so good to see you again!” Olette said happily, grabbing both me and my twin in a hug, one we eagerly returned, before stepping back and looking at the others in interest. “Who are these guys?”

“These two are Sora and Kairi, our adoptive siblings.” Branwen said, gesturing to Sora and Kairi. “And these two are Donald and Goofy. They’re good friends of ours.” he added, introducing the other two. Hayner beamed at them.

“Any friends of Riku and Branwen are friends of ours!” he cheered, before pulling the blanket flap aside again. “Come on in, let’s catch up!” he said, waving us in. We came inside gladly, and though this was my first time actually being here the Usual Spot looked just like I remembered it: the beat-up old couch, the crates all over the place, the ladder, that boiler thing Hayner always sat on…there was even a large traffic cone and a nail bat leaning against one of the brick support pillars. 

Branwen, Pence, and Kairi ended up sharing the couch, while the rest of us made do with sitting on the various crates stacked around the place - or sitting criss-cross on the floor, in my case.

“So, how’re things going with you? Are Naminé and Roxas healing well?” Pence asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. If things go well, Roxas, Zion, and Naminé will be back soon.” I said. Hayner cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

“Awesome!” he cheered, before lowering his hand, looking confused. “Um, who’s Zion?”

“Oh boy.” Donald said uneasily, the rest of the group sharing uncertain glances with each other. I already knew where I was going with this though.

“Right. So you see, things are a bit more complicated than what we originally told you.” I admitted, only to get cut off by an alarmed squawk from Donald.

“Riku! What are you doing?!” he hissed.

“Donald, these are their best friends. Heck, they’re going to be living here, what do you expect them to do? Lie? For every day of their lives?” I asked incredulously, before shaking my head and turning back to the understandably confused Twilight Town gang. “Anyway. So, to understand this, we’re gonna let you in on a secret. But you’ve gotta swear not to tell anyone, okay? This is important.” I told them seriously. The trio nodded.

“Anything for Roxas and Naminé.” Olette said. Branwen gave them a grateful smile.

“Thanks, guys.” he said. “So, first of all, this isn’t the only world out there. Beyond Twilight Town, up in space, there’s countless other worlds, like where Riku, Sora, Kairi, and I live.” he explained. “Donald and Goofy come from another world, and we travel between them in a spaceship called the gummi ship.”

“Gummy ship?” Pence asked incredulously. Branwen nodded.

“That’s cause that’s what it's made out of.” he said matter-of-factly, which didn’t exactly explain anything at all.

“Gummi blocks - err, gummy with an I - aren’t anything like the candy. They’re a material that the barriers between worlds are made out of, and using them to build spaceships means that we can travel the Lanes Between, or outer space, safely.” Sora explained. “As for the barriers, well, a super long time ago, all of the worlds used to be connected by land. They were all one big world, until an event known as the Keyblade War happened, where people fought each other over the light of the world. The aftermath of it separated all the worlds, and they each developed gummi barriers for their own protection. But they don’t know about the others, which is important, because it keeps their order safe.” 

Thank you, Ansem, for giving me a convenient excuse to pass on the more detailed version to everybody else.

“Why would that be important? Aren’t you telling us?” Hayner pointed out.

“Well, it’s okay to let some people in on the secret.” Goofy said. “But not the whole world at once; a world’s gotta discover the others on its own time when it’s ready, you see? It’s safest for everyone that way.”

“We wanted to tell you earlier, but it was too dangerous because of DiZ.” Branwen added. “We didn’t know how the man would react, and he’s...really not a great person.”

“Understatement of the century.” I grumbled.

“DiZ was only helping us because he knew we’d be fighting the Organization, and he hates them with the fiery passion of a thousand blazing suns.” Branwen continued. “He’d like nothing more than to see them wiped off the face of the earth, no matter what it takes to get there.”

“Or who he hurts.” I agreed, because canon atrocities aside when a grown adult looks at a starved teenager slowly putting weight back on and his only thought is good, he’s indispensable to my goal of defeating Organization Thirteen, well.

(Turns out the Ansem reports continue to be a thing and yes he really did say that in the one I found in the mansion. The guy is wild.)

“I think I get it.” Olette said, nodding to herself. “You just wanted to protect us.”

“Yeah. But now it’s safe to let you in on the secret.” I said.

“The secret of the other worlds.” Hayner said, blowing stray hair out of his face. “That’s just crazy. But, if they’ve all got barriers up, how can you even get into them from outside?” he questioned.

“It’s because the barriers can be broken. It can even happen on accident.” Kairi answered. “For example, we still don’t know how the barrier around Destiny Islands, our world, fell. But because it did I was able to come and live there.”

“We don’t know how that happened either.” I cut in when the group looked like they were about to ask. “Kairi was little and barely remembers anything about the world she came from. Best we can figure is that it fell to darkness and Kairi just landed on our world instead of Traverse Town, like how I landed on Hollow Bastion when Destiny Islands fell.” I commented, before shaking my head. “Speaking of, a world falls to darkness when monsters called Heartless get to the world’s heart through a passage known as the keyhole.”

“Normally, a world’s barriers keep them out, but if they’re gone, or even if there’s just a person with a strong enough darkness in their heart to summon them, the Heartless can get onto a world and multiply until they’re strong enough to search out and find the keyhole. If they succeed in getting the world’s heart, that world falls.” I continued. “When that happens, people with strong hearts end up getting ejected from their world by Corridors of Darkness. Those who make it through end up on other worlds, usually Traverse Town. That’s where people ejected from their worlds tend to land - it’s like a crossroads between worlds.” I finished.

“Yeah, it’s a special world.” Sora nodded. “So, long story short, a few months ago Maleficent and Ansem tried to take over the world with the power of Kingdom Hearts, which they needed Kairi to unlock. And no, they weren’t working together. They both were competing for it. We stopped them, but in order to seal the Door to Darkness to stop the Heartless from flooding out into the Realm of Light, where everybody lives, we had to have a keyblade wielder seal it from each side.”

“Sora, Branwen, and I are keyblade wielders, though Branwen wasn’t around at the time.” I added. “Mickey and I - he’s another keyblade wielder - were trapped on the side of the Realm of Darkness, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy were still in the Realm of Light. We all ended up at a place called Castle Oblivion, another world. I still have no idea how Mickey and I got out of the Realm of Darkness, but that’s neither here nor there.” I said, shaking my head. “Naminé was being used there by a group of evil people called Organization Thirteen. See, when a person becomes consumed by the darkness of their heart, they turn into a Heartless. And if their heart is strong enough, a Nobody is created too. They’re the body and soul left behind.”

Kairi picked up the explanation from there. “Normally Nobodies are the same people who they were before, but Naminé and Roxas are a little different. I never became a Heartless - I can’t - but my heart was out of my body for a time, and that was enough for Naminé to be born. Sora did actually turn into a Heartless, but I brought him back to normal. This meant that both our Nobodies and ourselves were existing at the same time, which is normally impossible. But Naminé and Roxas were special in that they weren’t us: they were different people, born as Nobodies.” she said. 

“Whoaaaa. So, this darkness in the heart, that’s bad right?” Hayner asked, and we all shook our heads.

“No. Light and dark are just natural forces of the universe. You can lose yourself in light just as you can lose yourself in darkness. It’s how you use them that makes them good or bad.” Branwen corrected him. “For example, I choose to wield the darkness in defense of the worlds, and my heart is mostly darkness. Just like Sora wields the light. Riku’s a bit of a weird case because he can actually wield both equally well, and has a heart with an equal amount of light and darkness inside.” Branwen explained. “That’s not exactly normal.”

“Gee, thanks Branwen.” I said teasingly, rolling my eyes. 

“You’re welcome!” Branwen beamed mischievously at me, and I huffed in amusement. 

“Naminé, Zion, and Roxas had to return to Kairi and Sora’s hearts to complete them.” Goofy said mournfully, getting us back on track. “But because they’re different people, they’re still there. This feller named Vexen in the Organization - that’s a group of thirteen evil human Nobodies - he made replicas, which are clones of people.” Branwen just gave a little wave, and all three members of the Twilight Town gang whipped their heads around to gape at him so fast it was a wonder they didn’t get whiplash.

“What?! You’re a-a clone?!” Pence gaped. Branwen nodded.

“Yeah, though Riku and I prefer artificial identical twin.” he said. “Zion is one too, made from Sora. Though they screwed up a lot with her, cause, uh, she’s the completely wrong gender.” Branwen pointed out, snickering, before growing serious. “She was made a bit differently from me, out of memories. Because of that, when she returned to Sora’s heart, everyone forgot about her.”

“Everyone except Riku anyway.” Sora muttered.

“Hey! I forgot too!!” I protested hotly, indignation flaring up from inside. Cheating or not I’d still lost those memories. “There was nothing stopping you guys from putting the dots together either - I was just the first one who did it.”

“What dots?” Hayner asked. I paused for a moment, thinking. 

“Okay. Think back to this summer, when you were hanging out with all of us at the mansion.” I said, and the trio nodded. “Now, tell me. Back on July 20th, when we were playing Monopoly that day, and Naminé and Branwen were kicking our butts…”

“Duuude, that was so not fair! I swear you were cheating!” Hayner complained.

“Yeah, you and Naminé aren’t allowed to be on a team together anymore.” Olette agreed, much to Branwen’s amusement.

“And who was on the other teams?” I prompted.

“Well, we were all in teams of two. You and I were a team, and so was Hayner and..." Pence trailed off, frowning. "That's not right. Roxas and Olette, you and me, Branwen and Naminé, Hayner and…and…” A look of incredulous disbelief spread across his face. “What on earth?? I know we were all in teams of two, but there was nobody else who could've been on Hayner's team." Pence said, bewildered. 

“What are you talking about? Of course I was alone, there were seven of us with Naminé free.” Hayner scoffed. “There was always going to be an even number when she was working. It’s why I brought Battleship Wars over, you need an even amou-” Hayner paused, the most baffled expression I have ever seen plastered all over his face. “Wait, but we- I- we got into a fight? Over not having an even number of players for Battleship Wars because Naminé was working??” The teenager realized, slack-jawed. “How?! I got a black eye from that!” 

I snorted. I remembered that fight, DiZ had tried to use it as an excuse to kick the Twilight Town gang out of the mansion. ‘Tried’ being the operative word here. 

“And that right there is a memory block.” I informed him. “Zion was there, but you can’t remember her. But just because you can’t remember Zion doesn’t mean you can’t find the holes where she should have been and put things together from there.”

Seriously, I had gone through my memories with a fine-toothed comb once Zion was gone. I know I hadn’t gotten everything, and some things were more obvious than others, but it was enough to piece together a good idea of what we’d done that summer.  

“Ohhhhh. That’s incredible, Riku!” Olette praised, and I flushed red in embarrassment.

“I- I didn’t do anything special-” I started, only to get cut off by my twin.

“Well I certainly didn’t think of it, and neither did anybody else! You were the one who pointed out that there even were things wrong with our memories of last summer. It never even occurred to me that something was missing and I spent just as much time with Zion as you!” Branwen said hotly. “Heck, not even Naminé remembered, Riku! Naminé!”

“Us too. We didn’t even have a clue we were missing a friend.” Hayner said dejectedly. “But, you said back then that they would be gone to get ‘treatment for their condition’ for a while, but that they’d come back as soon as that was done.” he added, using air quotes around the lie. “How can they come back when they needed to go back to your hearts in the first place?”

“Replicas.” Sora said, getting their attention. “After successfully creating Branwen and Zion, Vexen was ordered by his leader to make replica bodies - bodies, not people. Vessels to place hearts in.”

“Which can bring our friends back.” Olette said in a tone of dawning realization. “That’s amazing! So they’ll be back as soon as you can get those, right?”

“Right!” Donald nodded. “But we gotta get ahold of Vexen’s research first to make ‘em, and that’s back at their base. As soon as we defeat the Organization, we can search their base top to bottom til we find it!” Donald announced proudly.

“That’s awesome.” Hayner said, grinning.

“Sooo...if we all forgot Zion, then this means nobody can remember anything about her, right? Including her name?” Pence spoke up, getting nods from everybody save Hayner and Olette. “So then, was Zion just a name you picked to call her by?”

“Weeeell, not exactly…” I said sheepishly, scratching the back of my head. “I uh, I can’t remember Zion’s name, no one can, but I can remember that I initially mispronounced it as Zion. All I know is that it was close, but not it. So until we can bring her back and everyone remembers her again, we all call her Zion.” I explained.

“I see.” Hayner said. “Sounds like you guys have been busy.”

“You have no idea.” Sora agreed.

“We shouldn’t keep you then.” Olette said, standing up from the couch. “You’ve got bad guys to stop and our friends to save, right? And once you’re done with that, and you bring our friends back home, everyone can all get to know each other.” she said happily.

“That’s true, ah-hyuck.” Goofy agreed, getting up from the crate he’d been sitting on. “It was real nice to meet you, Olette, Hayner, and Pence.”

“Yeah, you guys too!” Pence agreed. “We’ll keep an eye out on the old mansion where you all lived before. That way we’ll know as soon you all come back!” he said.

“Sounds like a plan.” Kairi said, smiling.

“Take care of yourselves out there. That Organization sounds like nasty business.” Hayner added.

“Yeah. If you see any strangers in black coats, sometimes with the hood up, get out of there. Preferably without drawing attention to yourselves. Those guys are Organization members.” I warned.

“Yeah but...you guys had black coats too, right?” Olette pointed out. I nodded.

“Yeah. Not everybody who has one is part of the Organization. But the majority of them are.” I explained. “Better safe than sorry anyway, especially since the rest of us are pretty recognizable. Branwen and I are teenager-sized, and the king of their world-” I jerked a thumb over at Donald and Goofy. “-is a literal mouse, like they’re a duck and a dog.”

“I was wondering about that.” Hayner admitted. “Gotcha. We’ll keep an eye out.”

“And I’ll keep them out of trouble.” Olette added, much to our hilarity.

“Olette!” Hayner protested over our laughter, before giving in and cracking up himself. “Alright, alright, very funny.” he said once the laughter had died down.

“Hopefully we’ll come back soon.” Sora said as the rest of us got up. 

“You guys better!” Hayner agreed. “Seeya guys.”

“See ya later!”

“Goodbye!”

“Seeya!” We all said, our various goodbyes mixing in with each other, before turning and leaving the Usual Spot.

“Hayner, Pence, and Olette are really nice.” Sora said as we walked back to where the gummi ship was parked at the old mansion. “I’m glad we were able to tell them about the other worlds.”

“You have no idea how relieving that is to finally get it off my chest.” Branwen agreed. “Keeping it a secret from them was hard.”

“Yeah...I suppose if I knew about the worlds and Goofy didn’t, I’d’ve done the same thing.” Donald admitted.

“I sure am glad we got to meet them though.” Goofy said, stepping around a bush and coming into the clearing where our ship stood. “So, where are we goin’ next?”

“I dunno.” Sora said, frowning. “Maybe Hollow Bastion again? I know we were just there, but we just came to eat, sleep, and take off again. We haven’t actually checked in with the restoration committee in over a month.” he pointed out.

“That’s true. And it’ll be nice to catch up with them again.” Kairi agreed.

“So we’re all agreed then?” I asked, and everyone nodded. “Hollow Bastion it is then.”

~*~

At this point, I’d had enough practice flying the gummi ship that I could do it in my sleep. Not that I’d ever want to test that out in reality, but the point still stood. And defending the ship never failed to be like a surreal arcade shooter game, even now.

Touching down on the outskirts of Hollow Bastion, it of course wasn’t even five minutes until we ran into a group of Heartless - who were being chased by Dusks? What? Didn’t they want us killing those things?

“Uhhhh…” 

“Let’s...go check in with everyone else.” Sora said eventually. Putting the confusing sight aside for now, we started making our way through the streets to Merlin’s house, where the committee had decided to make their base of operations for whatever reason. Maybe it’s because it had the biggest amount of space? Or even just the only computer, those weren’t exactly common around here what with the majority of things being destroyed and all. Merlin had probably imported that thing and they were just borrowing it or something. Or maybe it had survived the destruction of their world, who knew.

Sora suddenly stopped right in front of me, and distracted as I was, I didn’t notice in time to slow down and ran straight into him.

“Ow! Sora, what the heck?” I demanded, rubbing my face.

“Sorry! It’s just, it’s Cloud!” Sora said happily, and huh, it was. Cloud in his Advent Children gear, instead of the Vincent-themed outfit he’d had in Kingdom Hearts One.

Oh man, I heard Nick and Tristan go on so many rants about that it wasn’t even funny. I probably even had them all memorized. They were both really passionate about their favorite games, and so when they had crossed over like this…

Cloud’s only response was to look up from where he was leaning against a concrete wall before dropping his gaze back down to the ground without a word. I frowned. What was going on with him?

“Whatcha doing?” Donald asked Cloud.

“I’ll get him.” Cloud answered, which didn’t actually answer anything.

“Get who?” I asked. Cloud looked up to respond before doing a double-take.

“Wha- oh. These the friends you were after?” Cloud asked, addressing Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who all nodded. “Huh. Well, I have a score to settle. This time, we settle it.”

“And that doesn’t sound ominous at all.” Branwen grumbled quietly from behind me, though if this Cloud was anything like his Final Fantasy Seven counterpart he probably heard him anyway, even if he didn’t show any outward sign of it.

“You still haven’t told us who it is you’re settling the score with.” Kairi pointed out. Cloud just gave her a wan look.

“I have a score to settle with the man who embodies all the darkness in me.” he answered.

“Uh, what? You- that’s- you’re all light?” Branwen choked out, gaping incredulously at Cloud. Which wasn’t entirely unwarranted, because even I had no clue what the whole Cloud-Sephiroth thing was about. Nick, Tristan, and I were pretty sure it had meant to be explained in Kingdom Hearts One, but hadn’t made it into the final cut of the game. Which was annoying, especially now that it was my reality. 

“No.” Cloud said, shaking his head before sighing softly, gritting his teeth. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh yeah? Try me.” Branwen challenged.

“Branwen! Cloud!” Sora complained. “Guys, please.”

“...Sorry.” Branwen said after a moment.

“Yeah.” Cloud said, which Branwen seemed to take as an apology.

“So, who is this guy? Who embodies your darkness somehow?” Sora asked.

“Sephiroth.” Cloud responded. “Tell me if you see him.”

“Uh, sure. What’s he look like?” Kairi asked.

“Silver hair, like you two. Carries a long sword.” Cloud answered without opening his eyes.

“Cool. We’ll keep an eye out for him.” I said.

“Yeah. Guess we’ll be seeing you, Cloud.” Sora added.

“Be careful.” Cloud suddenly said, getting up from the wall. “He messes with your head, makes you think darkness is the only way.”

We all looked at each other, trying desperately to hold it in, before Sora snorted and we all broke down laughing. Cloud watched us for a minute, puzzled, before growing annoyed.

“What’s so funny about it?” he demanded.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just, we’re well aware about how light and darkness are connected. You don’t have to worry about him convincing us to completely ditch light for darkness.” Sora said apologetically, still trying to get his snickers under control.

Cloud nodded, though he still looked suspicious. “Good. So long as he doesn’t lead you astray.”

“He won’t.” Branwen said firmly.

“Is something wrong?” a familiar voice asked, and we turned to see Aerith standing on the road over to the left. As she walked toward us, Cloud turned and wordlessly walked away. 

“U-uhhh…” Sora started, but trailed off as he realized that Aerith had been talking to Cloud, not us. Cloud stopped and turned around.

“It’s nothing.” he said dismissively.

“Sure didn’t sound like nothing.” Branwen snarked, and Cloud shot him a dark glare for it before turning his attention back to Aerith.

“I don’t want you involved.” he told her. Aerith frowned, resting her elbow on her hand while she touched a finger to her cheek with the other, clearly thinking.

“You mean, you don’t want me there when you go away again?” Aerith questioned, dropping her hands back to her sides.

“I just-” Cloud started, before closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. “Aerith. I need to do this. But I promise you, even if I go far away, I’ll come back.”

“Do you mean it?” Aerith asked. Cloud just sighed, averting his eyes from her gaze.

“Yeah.” he said softly.

“See? You don’t look so sure.” Aerith told him. “But, well, okay. I understand. Go - get things settled.

“Huh?”

“No matter how far away you are...once you find your light...I’m sure it will lead you back here again. Right?” Aerith asked.

“I suppose.” Cloud said.

“So I’ll stay here - and I’ll cheer for you. Okay, Cloud?” she said.

“Okay.” he replied, before turning and walking away. As he descended the stairs ahead of him, Sora walked up to Aerith, who wasn’t looking so sure now that Cloud’s back was turned.

“Wonder if he’ll be okay.” she said.

“He’ll be fine.” Sora reassured her. “His light and his darkness are his - not that other guy’s. His bonds with you all will keep him tethered, so he won’t lose his way. And even if he does, they’ll lead him right back to you eventually. That’s the most important thing.”

“You’re right.” Aerith agreed, a small smile on her face. “Cloud aside, I’m glad I ran into you guys. We’ve found something important - I’ll lead the way. C’mon.” Aerith said, before beginning to walk down the street. As we followed, I moved over to Branwen, frowning.

“You okay? There was something odd going on between you and Cloud back there.” I said, and Branwen tensed.

“I’m sorry, I just- that guy rubs me the wrong way, okay?” he said defensively. “He shouldn’t but he does and every time he opens his mouth and says something I just- ughh!” Branwen groaned, shaking his head. “I know he helped Sora, Donald, and Goofy and all but I just, don’t...like him.”

“Not everybody just hits it off right away, no matter what Sora makes it seem like.” Kairi said, sliding into the conversation. “Some people’s personalities just don’t mix.”

“We’re here.” Aerith said, interrupting our conversation. I looked up and saw the entrance to the castle looming overhead, and couldn’t help a reflexive shiver.

I really didn’t like this place. Too much crap had happened here for me to ever be comfortable in it.

Though looking at everyone else, sometimes I envied their ignorance. They had no idea just what secrets lay beneath our feet. How much blood and death tainted the ground.

...I did, though.

“Why’d you bring us here?” Donald wondered.

“You’ll see!” Aerith sing-songed, before turning the corner and leading us into the room with Ansem’s computer. My feet itched, knowing we stood above the Chamber of Repose and all its horrors. The entrance was right there, even. “Tada! I brought them, Squall!”

“Thank you, Aerith.” Squall said gratefully, and the cetra - she was still a cetra here, right? - just gave him a wave before leaving.

“So, what’s this all about?” Sora asked, looking around curiously.

“Well, remember how you guys had to go around finding scattered pages of Ansem’s reports to piece together what the deal was with the Heartless?” Squall asked, and we all nodded. “Well, we finally found Ansem’s computer in here. Now we’ll be able to access his database to see all the information he has on the Nobodies, the Heartless, the worlds, everything.” he explained. Everyone’s eyes widened as the implications of this dawned on them.

“Whoaaaa.” Sora breathed, before rushing for the computer. “What about Vexen’s replica research? Is that here?!” he asked, pounding away at the keyboard in a way that made me body-check him to the side in horror.

“What the heck are you doing, do you want to break it?! That’s not how you use a computer!” I hissed.

“Sorry…” Sora apologized sheepishly. “Guess I got a little carried away.”

Goofy suddenly yelped, pointing dramatically at the ceiling, and we naturally looked up to see what he was pointing at. Everybody else shrieked at the sight of Stitch on the ceiling, which startled him into screaming in unison. That’s when Stitch lost his grip on the ceiling and went crashing straight down on top of the keyboard, because of course he did.

“Get offa there!” Donald snarled, before trying to tackle Stitch, which resulted in Donald doing a hilarious slide-tackle across the keyboard as Stitch scrambled off.

“Guys, seriously?!” I demanded. Donald turned around, looking apologetic.

“So-”

Surprisingly quiet alarms started blaring, startling all of us. “Attention current user. This is a warning. Further misuse of this terminal will result in immediate defensive action.”

I scowled. The MCP.

“Who’s there?” Sora asked, looking around the room warily. Everyone was scanning the place looking for invisible intruders, unaware that the real culprit was the computer in front of us.

“I am the Master Control Program. I oversee this system.” the MCP replied.

“Where are you?” Sora questioned, baffled. I had to very firmly remind myself that Destiny Islands did not have computers. And yes, that sucked just as much as it sounded. I missed video games.

At least we still had calculators, even if they were weird. And couldn’t graph. Small mercies. 

The alarms died down, and Donald took a step forward to get off the computer. Unfortunately, that required said footstep to land on the keyboard, which immediately started up the alarms again.

“Donald!” we all shouted in unison, and the drake in question flinched.

“I’m sorry! I was just trying to get off!” he protested frantically.

“Decision gate reached. You are now under arrest.”

“Arrest?!” Sora yelped. I took a moment to breathe, knowing what was coming. Everyone was looking around the room, trying to see where this arrest was going to come from, completely ignorant of the red circle on the back wall gathering light within it. A light that I had very intentionally faced away from, to give myself plausible deniability. 

“Run!” Squall suddenly shouted, and we all whirled around as the light intensified. I suppressed my instinct to just immediately bolt with no questions asked, and instead tensed up and threw my arms in front of my face in a useless attempt to shield myself from the blast of light.

Chapter Text

The beam hit, and I...everything just kind of froze. And then I felt myself dissolving, bit by bit into the data world, until the real world was gone and I was floating - flying - through something before I felt myself starting to recondense, reappearing from the feet up. I immediately staggered over to the side and leaned heavily on the wall. A dull whump! had me looking over to see Sora sprawled out flat on his face, with Donald, Goofy, and Kairi right there on the floor with him.

Jeez, if that was what using one of those portals in Twilight Princess felt like then I never wanted to try it. And I had to do this again to get back out!

“S-? Whoa, guys! Are you okay?” Branwen asked, looking around frantically at all of us before coming over to the only conscious person in the area, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m...fine. That was just...really weird.” I answered, pushing myself upright from the wall, which actually turned out to be the wall of a building and not a room like I’d thought it had been.

“Ugh, what happened?” Kairi asked, groaning as she pushed herself upright, Goofy coming to on the floor beside her. Branwen frowned, looking around at us in confusion.

“I’m...perfectly fine?” he said, half questioningly as he took in the rest of us adjusting to suddenly being data.

“Lucky you.” Donald grumbled, pushing himself to his feet before looking himself over with a quizzical frown. “And what’s all this we’re wearing?”

Before any of us could answer, a group of Heartless came around the corner, wearing blocky yellow uniforms rather than our own blue - which was basically our own clothing, just...gray with blue glowing lines now. As were our faces - the gray part, I mean. All of us pulled out our weapons just as a pillar of light appeared next to us, winking out to leave a red-suited person in its place. S-something? Not Sauron, that was the wrong movie entirely, but-

“Who are you?” Kairi asked.

“I am Commander Sark.” the red-uniformed man said, and that was his name! I knew it started with an S! 

“A commander of what?” Branwen questioned. Sark just sniffed.

“Hmph. Observe.” he said, holding up his hand, and I had about one second to go ‘oh nuggets’ before he clenched his fist and-

PAIN. Like every molecule in my body was coming apart - Sora was shouting something in the background but I couldn’t hear, deafened by the crackling electricity and my own screams-

And just as suddenly, it stopped. I crashed onto my hands and knees, panting, my body shaking from the shock, because wh-what was that?

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Branwen just looked defeated, while Goofy looked just as bad off as I was. Looks like we’d been the examples then.

Sark snapped his fingers, summoning Heartless, and the reskinned Midnight Blue flew to my grasp as-

“Riku don’t!”

I screamed, my armor flashing red-yellow-red, and automatically dropped Midnight Blue. As soon as it vanished, it stopped, and my digital armor returned to its normal blue.

“Had enough, User?” Sark asked with a smirk on his face. I just glared at him. “Because believe me, I can continue to teach you this lesson all day.” Everyone looked at me pleadingly, and I reluctantly nodded my head. “Good.”

I spent the whole Heartless-enforced march to our cell thinking. That pain was crippling, and Sark could hit any of us with it in an instant. Heck, he could probably hit all of us at once!

And yet...way back when in Hollow Bastion, just a single Fire had seemed crippling to me. Was there a way I could fight through that, somehow? Thinking back, it reminded me of when I accidentally got blasted by a Thundaga from Donald while soaking wet during our practice sessions in Olympus Coliseum, only this had been an extended attack, not a single blast of electricity. But it was still electricity.

“Riku? What are you thinking about?” Sora asked, drawing me out of my thoughts.

“Ways around that electrical crap he pulled on us earlier.” I answered honestly. Everyone just looked at me. “What?”

“How could we get around that? All he had to do was clench his fist, and then you two were, were…” Branwen choked out through gritted teeth, looking down at the floor.

“That’s the thing. Do we have to be in his line of sight? Can he only hit two of us at once or more? Is there a cooldown to- no he used it on me again right after, but what about a way to disable it entirely?” I wondered. “There’s plenty of things we can try. I certainly don’t wanna be on the receiving end of that again.”

A laugh startled our whole group, and had us turning to see none other than Tron sitting there on the floor, leaned back against the terminal - though why there was a terminal in the cell was beyond me. Unless maybe this hadn’t always been a cell? “See, this is why I like Users. Even when everything points to the outcome being the same, they somehow manage to find a way to achieve a different result.”

“Uhh...who are you?” Donald asked.

“I’m Tron. I’m a security program in the computer system.” he explained, only to get blank looks from the others. “Uh, the computer you’re in?” he tried, only to get the same lost expressions. “Do you not know where you are?”

“Well, last thing we knew before we ended up here was the MCP or something saying we were under arrest, and then there was this big beam of light that hit us. After that we woke up like this.” Branwen said, gesturing to his blue-lined armor.

“I see. Well, this system is a copy of one created by a corporation known as ENCOM.” Tron explained, and I blinked as I realized that that meant there were two Trons walking around, each their own person from the moment the copy had been made. Two people who had once been the same, but after becoming two duplicates, began to experience the world in their own ways, think in their own ways. Just like I’d told Branwen a year ago. They weren’t the same, but they were still Tron. Neither one the original or the copy, just...Tron. 

“ENCOM?” Donald questioned. Tron nodded.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, the original program was destroyed.” Tron said, and that made me wonder about the other Tron world in Dream Drop Distance. Had the system itself been destroyed, or had it been the world that had fallen instead? From what I knew the second seemed much more likely, though the world could also have been dreaming about when the computer had still been intact.

I doubted it, though. Disney wasn’t one to just drop it like that, especially with that ambiguous ending with Tron’s fate, and hadn't Sam backed it up anyway?

“So...this is the backup copy, then?” Goofy asked, puzzled, missing the half-confused and half-affronted look on Branwen’s face. I needed to explain that before he got the wrong idea.

Tron shook his head. “No, this copy was acquired by another User. The new User updated and customized the programs, renaming the system ‘Hollow Bastion OS’.”

“Hollow Bastion...why?” Kairi asked, bewildered. I had to wonder if the original Tron system had been on a MacOS. I couldn’t remember if it had been a mac or windows computer, but given the name of this one…

Wait, did that mean Ansem’s computer was a Mac?!

“Who knows? That’s just what my User decided it should be called.” Tron said, shrugging. “He used the system for town maintenance, and to advance his private research.”

Take a deep breath, Riku. Take a deep breath. Actually wait - why was the system called Hollow Bastion OS when the world itself had still been Radiant Garden at the time?

“But things have changed. Now, I’m under arrest, same as you.” Tron continued.

Sora looked back at the rest of us. “Did...any of you get any of that?” he asked, clearly lost.

I raised my hand. “I did.”

“Thank heavens somebody did.” Branwen breathed out in relief. I couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed at that. “Anyway, I’m Branwen, and these guys are my siblings Riku, Kairi, and Sora, and our friends Donald and Goofy.” he explained, introducing us. “It’s nice to meet you, Tron.”

“Likewise.” Tron grinned.

“So, how’d you know we were Users?” I asked, curious.

“Well, with that configuration, you could hardly be anything else.” Tron said confidently.

“You mean this armor stuff we’re wearing?” I asked, pointing to it. Tron nodded.

“Each program’s outfit looks different depending on their function. Only Users have something as complicated as that.” he explained. “Users have an infinite amount of functions, after all.”

“I get it.” I said, smiling.

“...I’m lost.” I heard Sora mutter, and I nearly lost my composure and cracked up right then and there.

“At any rate, as much as I’d love to continue talking with you, you’d better get out of here, and quick.” Tron said seriously. “The MCP hates Users. Who knows what he’ll do to you?”

“L-like that electrocution thing he did to Riku and I?” Goofy asked, gulping. Tron did a double-take.

“He tried to derez you?” he asked, startled, before shaking his head. “No, of course he would. I didn’t think it would work on a User though.”

“Wait, what’s ‘derezzing’?” Branwen asked. Tron sighed.

“Derezzing is short for deresolution, which I suppose is a fancy way of saying delete. The MCP attempted to delete you from the system.”

Everybody gasped, appropriately horrified at the idea. I knew it wouldn’t kill us, just boot us from the system, but…how was I going to be able to tell everyone else that?

“D-delete us?!” Branwen stammered out, eyes wide. 

“Yes. Programs disappear when derezzed, but a User…” Trom frowned. “I don’t actually know what the result of derezzing a User would be. I know the MCP believes it’ll erase you just as well as a program, but…I don’t know. It doesn’t feel quite right.”

“I don’t think it would.” I said, getting everyone’s attention. “We might’ve been digitalized, but we’re more than just data. And we know we can exist alongside it - data has a habit of becoming real when the heart is involved, remember? It’s what happened to Branwen.” I added. 

“What?!” Tron practically shrieked, making all of us jump. “Wha- how?! That’s, that’s impossible, data is data! It can’t just, just do that!” He sputtered, voice rising several octaves in the process. 

“Uh, long story short, some lunatic decided to clone Riku by way of gathering his data and putting it into a replica body. The data heart, my heart, became real, and so did I.” Branwen explained. Tron looked like the world had shattered out from under his feet.

“You...a program, become a User…?” he gaped, his face the physical embodiment of the Blue Screen of Death. I was about to say Branwen hadn’t been a program when it occurred to me: ISOs. I couldn’t remember what ISO stood for, but I knew they’d been people born in the computer system. Real people, born as beings of data. 

Did that make Branwen and Zion ISOs, too?

“It happened with another replica, too. Zion.” I said, before shaking my head. “But first, we’ve gotta get out of here.”

“Right. I-I can process this later.” Tron stammered out, before visibly getting ahold of himself. “Originally, this terminal right here could’ve taken you back to the User world, but it’s been deprived of power for 50 microcycles. The MCP saw to that.”

“So then what now?” Kairi asked. Tron crossed his arms.

“If we could get the energy core in the canyon back online, we could power it back up.” Tron said.

“Wait, so lemme get this straight.” I interrupted, holding up a hand. “You’re saying that we should head out to the canyon, turn on the power, and then come back here to the cell?” Tron winced. “No no, this is good. Users are idiots, remember? We do stupid crap all the time. The MCP isn’t gonna expect us to do something like this because it isn’t logical.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly.” Tron said, giving me an appraising look. Uh oh. “You certainly know your way around computers, Riku.”

“Yeah.” I nodded, but didn’t elaborate. Donald and Goofy just looked confused, but when they saw that my family wasn’t, thankfully just shrugged it off.

“Speaking of the cell, aren’t we stuck here?” Branwen pointed out. “How are we even gonna pull this off if we can’t even get out first?”

“You’re right. We’re not going anywhere until we unlock those energy fields.” Tron said, pointing them out. Sora did a double-take.

“Wait, did you just say unlock?” he asked incredulously. Tron just gave him a confused look.

“Yeees…?”

Sora pumped a fist into the air. “Alright! Then this’ll be easy!”

“What are you talking about? Without the proper access codes, you can’t…” Tron trailed off as Sora whipped out the Kingdom Key, his weapon reskinned gray with glowing blue lines like all of ours were to fit this world. Power gathered at the tip as he pointed it at one of the electronic locks and then let it fly. A beam of light struck the lock, and with a clicking sound, it opened, powering off the energy field.

“Welcome to the world of keyblade wielders.” I said, chuckling at Tron’s second Blue Screen of Death expression of the day. “It doesn’t matter if it’s physical or electronic; if it’s a lock, a keyblade can open it.”

Tron still looked stunned speechless. I took that as my cue to summon Midnight Blue and turn my keyblade on the second lock, Branwen doing the same to the third. Within seconds the energy fields were down, setting us free.

“Uh, guys? I think you broke him.” Kairi said, worry clear in her voice as she looked at Tron, who still hadn’t moved. That was bad. That was really bad.

“Tron? You okay buddy?” Sora asked, concerned. Tron blinked a couple of times, before letting out a shaky sigh and nodding his head.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” he said. “I’ve just...never seen anything like this before. Any of this.” A grin started to spread across his face. “Just when I think I’ve finally learned all there is to know about Users, you go and pull something like this.” he chuckled, slowly shaking his head back and forth, before looking up and meeting our eyes with an expression of utmost seriousness. “You see why the MCP is scared of you, right? You’re a serious threat to his existence. He can’t adapt, not like you Users can.”

“I see. So that’s why he wants to derez us.” Goofy realized.

“Exactly.” Tron nodded. “Now follow me - the canyon’s this way!”

~*~

Once we’d gotten to the canyon, clearing out any Heartless stupid enough to get in our way, we found the energy core: a giant tower about a story and a half tall, with large square holes on the sides of the top where red, glowing cubes sat in all of the holes but one. 

“This is the energy core.” Tron said, somewhat unnecessarily. “The last part should be somewhere around here.”

As though triggered by his words, a ring of cubes suddenly landed from above, one of them the glowing red that matched the others in the energy core. The red glow began to fade as the ring started spinning, clearly trying to hide it.

“Quick! Get the real cube!” Sora shouted, and we all ran towards the same part of the ring. Goofy got there first, and with a few hits from his shield, the blue coating broke apart to reveal the red cube we needed, the fakes vanishing into nothing.

“Whew. Good eye, Goofy.” I said. Sora walked over and pointed the Kingdom Key at the cube, making it float. Somehow. Using his keyblade like a controller, Sora lifted the cube and slotted it somewhat awkwardly into its hole. The energy core flashed, before the hourglass part of it connected the two thick, round discs that served as its top and bottom halves burned white. The glow faded after a moment, and the energy core began to rotate, sinking into the ground before only half a foot of it remained, clicking into place with a dull boom. The lines leading away from it suddenly lit up, and I grinned as the power came back online.

“Alright. Time to head back before the MCP’s forces show up.” Tron said. Doubling back, careful to make sure any Heartless that saw us didn’t live to rat us out, we arrived back at the cell to find that it was thankfully still empty. Tron made his way purposefully over to the terminal, turning it on before typing away at the keyboard. Various windows opened, data scrolling upward too fast for me to really read. But that was fine; I didn’t really understand coding anyway.

“Before you go, I have a favor to ask.” Tron said, turning away from the terminal.

“Sure. What is it?” Kairi asked.

“Find my User. He’ll give you the password to access the DTD.” Tron explained.

“The DTD?” Branwen echoed, confused.

“The DTD is the name my User gave to the dataspace. Copies of all the original system programs are stored there, along with anything that’s sensitive or restricted.” Tron explained. Branwen’s eyes widened in horror.

“They have duplicates of people stuck in there?!” he yelped.

“No no, not like that. Think of it like...backups. If something goes wrong, the coding is tucked safely away so that it can be used to fix what’s broken.” Tron told him. It...didn’t really seem to help.

“Think of it like blueprints. There’s a copy kept in a safe place so that if something breaks, you can use the blueprints to fix it again.” I added. Tron nodded.

“Exactly. And things have been broken.” Tron said grimly.

“So you want us to get the password so you can get to the data blueprints to fix it?” Branwen asked. “We can do that!”

“Thank you.” Tron said gratefully, before turning and kneeling down in front of the terminal, typing away at it again. “A number of my functions were appropriated when I last took on the MCP. That’s why I need the password.” Tron hit the enter key, before getting back to his feet. “If I can get inside the DTD, I can access my original backup program and restore all my functions. Then I’ll be able to put this system back to the way it was before the MCP got control and changed everything.” he said, turning around to face us. “The way it was supposed to be: a free system for you, the Users.”

“Got control? Was the MCP another one of the programs living here before he took over?” Kairi asked. Tron frowned.

“I...don’t know. I don’t even know who made him.” he said. 

“Okay, we’ll just find your User and ask him. He might know.” Sora said. “What’s his name?”

Tron looked startled. “You mean you don’t know? My User is the user of this system: Ansem the Wise.”

Identical looks of horror flashed across everyone’s faces. I grimaced, remembering the feeling of my keyblade cutting through him. Not Ansem, but Xehanort’s Heartless. The one who’d taken his name. 

I miss him. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. 

“What? What’s wrong?” Tron asked, worried. Kairi winced.

“Well, he’s...he’s dead.” she said, trying to find a way to put it nicely but failing to. 

“Yeah, that would be my fault.” I muttered bitterly. Tron blinked.

“Oh.”

“So, does this mean we can’t get into the DTD at all?!” Donald squawked, horrified.

“No, there might be another way.” Tron said, before the terminal started fritzing out behind him. He whirled around, kneeling in front of it before typing away frantically.

“What’s wrong?” Branwen asked, alarmed.

“Looks like the MCP’s on to us.” Tron said grimly. “I’ll keep this terminal up and running. You better exit the system, now!”

“But what about the password?” Goofy asked.

“I highly doubt Ansem didn’t write it down somewhere. Now go! Hurry!” Tron said urgently.

Go? How? Pillars of light caught my attention as one by one, my friends began leaving the computer. I mentally flailed around for a second before I realized: there was a connection. A connection to outside. I closed my eyes, feeling for it, before grabbing hold and pulling.

And with what, I felt myself dissolve, and flood out of the system into the outside world. I reconstructed outside of the computer, feeling thrown but not to the point where I ended up on the floor again.

“Blergh. At least that wasn’t as bad as last time.” I said.

“Yeah.” Donald agreed.

“Maybe you’re just getting used to it?” Branwen suggested, who was again completely and utterly fine. Maybe it was because he’d once been a data entity himself?

Footsteps suddenly echoed down the hall, and Squall burst into the room, Tifa at his side, looking relieved. 

“Sora! Donald! Goofy! Kairi! Riku! Branwen! You’re all right!” he said.

“These are the friends you were talking about?” Tifa asked, and Squall nodded.

“Who’s this?” Sora asked.

“My name’s Tifa. I’m not part of the restoration committee, but I do help out.” she explained. “Right now though, I’m looking for a guy with spiky hair.”

All of us turned to look at Sora at the same time, who just looked startled. Tifa laughed.

“Spikier.” she added. Branwen folded his arms and snorted.

“The only one I’ve seen with spikier hair than this guy was that Cloud person we ran into earlier.” he said, and Tifa’s eyes widened as she quickly crossed the room to stand in front of my twin.

“You saw Cloud?! Where?!” she demanded. Branwen flinched, eyes wide at the sudden intensity coming from the woman in front of him.

“Whoa! We saw him outside, okay? He said he had a score to settle with someone named Sephiroth, and went after him.” Branwen explained. Tifa hissed.

“Seriously, Cloud?!” she griped, before looking back at us. “Thanks for telling me. I better catch up with that idiot before he goes and does something monumentally stupid.” she said, before turning and leaving the computer room.

“Good luck.” Squall told her, and she nodded her thanks before turning the corner and vanishing from our line of sight. Squall then came over to us, looking concerned. “So, what happened to you guys?”

“Turns out, the computer’s a data world. That MCP dude who sucked us into the computer took over the system a while back. Tron, he’s a friend we made in there, is fighting him and helped get us out, but nobody can access the data in the computer until we get the password to the dataspace.” I explained.

“It gets worse.” Kairi said grimly. “The person who set the password is Ansem, and Riku killed him months ago.”

“I see.” Squall said, looking perturbed. I winced.

“Tron says he should’ve written it down somewhere. So I guess we’re going on a scavenger hunt.” I sighed.

“I guess we are.” Squall agreed. “There’s a laboratory I found while searching for a way to help you guys when you disappeared. It’s a bit of a wreck, but the password might be in there.” 

“Sounds like we know where to start.” Branwen said. “Lead the way, Squall.”

Once we got to the lab, it was to see a pleasant surprise already waiting for us.

“Your majesty!” Donald, Sora, and Goofy shouted. Mickey whirled around before putting a finger to his lips, shushing them. He looked around, as though making sure nobody had heard them, before running over and shutting the door. That done, he turned and pushed off his hood, smiling at his friends.

“Aw, it’s good to see you guys.” he said, and Donald and Goofy immediately tackled him into a hug.

“It’s been forever.” I agreed. 

“Careful.” Mickey warned. “The Organization might be listening.”

“Seriously?” Branwen groaned. Mickey nodded. “Ughhhh.”

“We’re looking for the password to the dataspace in Ansem’s computer.” I explained. “He called it the DTD.”

“DTD?” Mickey said, frowning, before perking up. “Do you mean the Door to Darkness?”

“What?” Squall asked, baffled, even more so when we all cheered.

“That’s gotta be it! That loser was obsessed with it.” Sora grinned.

“The Door to Darkness was a giant set of doors that led from the Realm of Darkness to the Realm of Light, where we all live. Ansem used the Final Keyhole here in Hollow Bastion to get them open. Heartless were pouring out of there like crazy, so after Sora, Donald, and Goofy took care of Ansem, we got the doors closed before Sora and Mickey sealed them.” I explained. Squall nodded.

“I see. And the Final Keyhole, that was unlocked by the Princesses of Heart, right?” Squall asked rhetorically. “Maybe their names are the password.”

“But, would he have even known about Kairi?” I asked, frowning. Squall hummed.

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t hurt to try.” he said. 

“What are you tryin’ to do with the dataspace?” Mickey asked curiously.

“With the password, we can access all of Ansem’s research data. No more hunting for scattered report pages for us!” Sora crowed. Mickey grinned widely at the news.

“So that means you might be able to find out where he is!” Mickey cheered. I faked a baffled expression to match the others, who were looking at Mickey like he’d just grown another head.

“Uhh, we defeated Ansem, remember, your majesty?” Donald said. “He’s dead.”

“Very, very dead.” Goofy nodded sagely. A look of dawning realization grew on Mickey’s face.

“Oh, you don’t know.” he said.

“Don’t know what?” I asked.

“Well, the fella you guys defeated, he wasn’t the same Ansem who owned this place.” Mickey explained, ignoring the shouts of surprise and alarm from the others. He pointed over at the portrait of Apprentice Xehanort hanging from the wall. “You see, that guy over there is actually an imposter. He wasn’t really Ansem; he just went around telling everyone he was.”

I snorted, loudly, trying vainly to hold myself together before I just lost it and doubled over laughing, staggering to the side and putting my hand against the wall to support myself so I didn’t end up on the floor from laughing so hard. I had been waiting for years to be able to share this joke, and now everyone else could be in on it! “N-no wonder he never...never called his ma-aster by name!” I chortled.

“His master?” Goofy asked. I nodded, fighting hard to rein in my laughter, wiping a tear from my eye.

“Uh-huh. Ansem said he studied here with a bunch of other apprentices under the guidance of a master. Who he oh so conveniently never called by name.” I said, chuckling with mirth as I got the rest of the laughter out of my system. Mickey just looked confused, before gasping in sudden realization.

“Xehanort!” he shouted.

“Who?” Kairi asked. Mickey scowled.

“I knew I’d met the leader of the Organization before. I just couldn’t remember who he really was until now.” he said. “But this is Xehanort! It has to be!”

“Xehanort, huh? Not exactly a common name.” I remarked pointedly, crossing my arms and looking at the giant picture, though to everyone else it simply seemed like I was just commenting on the fact. In actuality I was trying to give Mickey the nudge to put two and two together. It was already enough that he’d recognized Xehanort in the first place without getting slapped in the face with it when confronting Xemnas, unlike in canon, but if I could get him to connect the dots even more...

The king of Disney Castle nodded. “Yup. To this day I’ve only met two people with the name.” he said.

“Really? Who was the other guy?” Donald asked. Mickey winced.

“Well, the other Xehanort was actually a Keyblade Master.” he said, to the confusion of everybody else in the room. “But he did some terribly awful things, and was defeated for it.”

“Keyblade Master?” Sora asked, confused. Mickey looked startled.

“You don’t know what that is?” he asked, looking over at us. We all shook our heads. “Oh. Well, they’re masters of the keyblade. If keybearers like you pass the Mark of Mastery exam, they become Keyblade Masters like myself.”

“You’re a Keyblade Master?!” Branwen yelped. 

“Uh-huh! Sure am.” Mickey nodded.

“Wow.” Goofy said, before turning and looking at the giant portrait again. “What are the odds that both of these Xehanort people would turn out to be bad guys?”

“Yeah, what are the odds.” I agreed, a wry smirk on my face. Sora looked over at me, a worried expression on his face. “Sora? What is it?”

“Do you think...are you gonna be able to face the leader of the Organization?” Sora asked, and I stared at him, utterly baffled.

“What? What makes you think that?” 

Sora winced. “Well, he and Ansem are this Xehanort guy’s Nobody and Heartless. And I know how hard it was for you to take down Ansem before…”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry. They’re not the same. I won’t have a problem with this guy.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Goofy asked. I looked over at Branwen.

“Remember how back in Castle Oblivion, I said that if I was somehow split into two people, we’d be experiencing the world in different ways, and thinking in different ways?” I asked. Branwen nodded. “Well, same thing with this guy. Ansem and the leader of the Organization are both Xehanort, but they’re not the same.”

“I get it. You and Ansem shared experiences that the leader of the Organization hasn’t.” Kairi realized. I nodded.

“Yup.”

Sora glared at the giant portrait of Apprentice Xehanort. “Xehanort…” he hissed, before slamming a fist into the picture, startling me. “All of this is your fault!”

The picture creaked, tilting alarmingly, before beginning to fall forward off the wall. We all shrieked and bolted out of the way, and the picture hit the floor with a dull boom, revealing the diagram of the Hollow Bastion security system and the password to the DTD with it.

Huh. That was one way to do it.

“What’s all this?” Squall asked as we crowded around closer to see it. I took great pleasure in stepping on the back of the portrait to do so, and if Sora walking on it harder than necessary was of any indication, so did he.

“Hollow Bastion...security...Tron…” Kairi read, squinting at the faded diagram. “Belle, Jasmine...wait, these are the other Princesses of Heart! And, and my name’s on there too!” she wailed, stricken at the discovery.

“So he did know your name.” I breathed in a tone of dawning realization that I didn’t actually feel, though the horror pooling in my gut was all too real. “But how? You’ve been living on Destiny Islands with us since you were four!”

“Unless, maybe...this is the world you came from?” Branwen wondered. We all exchanged equally stricken looks at that.

“Maybe there’s a reason why my memories from before I got there are so hazy.” Kairi whispered hoarsely. I shuddered.

“...There were rumors of human experiments being carried out under Ansem the Wise here in the castle.” Squall said quietly. Kairi’s eyes widened in horror.

“Okay, let’s all calm down now.” Mickey said, raising his hands to forestall any further panic. “You guys wanted to access the dataspace in the computer, right? Maybe that’ll have the information you guys want.”

“Yeah - Tron said that’s where anything restricted and related to Ansem’s private research was being held, right?” I asked. “If, if he’s got anything on Kairi, then it’ll be in there.”

“Right. Then let’s get back in there and find out!” Sora said, scowling.

~*~

Unfortunately, when we arrived in the world, touching down in the same cell we’d left from, we only had a few seconds to gain our bearings before we were teleported again, this time landing in a giant, grided box, with towering walls far too tall to climb. 

“What the heck?” I asked, glancing around, feeling just fine even after landing. Looks like Branwen was right, we had gotten used to it. Which begged the question of why he’d been perfectly fine...maybe because he’d once been data? Food for thought.

“Welcome to the game grid.” Commander Sark’s voice rang out over the area.

“Game grid?” Sora questioned.

“That’s right. You’ve been chosen to play a few games.”

“We don’t have time for games.” Branwen retorted.

“You don’t have a choice.” Sark snapped. “Lose the game, and you will be subject to immediate deresolution. Win? Well…” Sark chuckled, the sound echoing softly through the arena. “No one wins.”

“Oh that’s just perfect.” I hissed through gritted teeth. Light cycles appeared next to us, clearly for us to ride.

“The rules are simple.” Sark said as energy walls sprang to life around us. “Touch the walls and you will be immediately derezzed. Defeat all of your opponents to move on to the next round.”

“H-how are we supposed to ride these things?!” Branwen asked, panicked.

“Uh, just think of it like riding a really big bike!” I said, getting onto my light cycle. “A really large, motorized bike.”

“Uh, o-okay.” Branwen said, getting onto his light cycle like he’d ridden it a thousand times, even though he’d never physically ridden a bike before.

Granted we we’re both completely in the dark about how to ride a motorcycle, but it couldn’t be too different, right? Just a bike with an engine instead of pedaling. 

“Ready?” Sora asked. We all nodded. “Then let’s do this!”

I gunned my light cycle, shooting off into the maze. Midnight Blue appeared in my hand as I approached a Heartless riding its own light cycle, aiming it directly at the thing.

“Fira!” I snapped, the spell blasting into the Heartless and sending it into an uncontrolled spin. I rammed into it from the left, sending it veering off to the side to smash into the energy wall, immediately flashing red and yellow before dying. Sucks to be it. 

As I approached a left turn, a loud and rapidly approaching noise had me veering off to the side to make the turn, but it wasn’t enough to shake the Heartless behind me before it slammed into the back of my light cycle, almost throwing me off and making me jerk the wheel as far as I could to the left to avoid smashing into the energy wall in front of me. Yay for Mario Kart, I guess. 

Unable to help the small smirk at the thought, I took aim at the Heartless now that it was just in front of me, slowing down to try to get back to my side.

Nice try buddy. “Thundara!” I snapped, only for shields of energy to spring up in place around it in an imitation of Reflect, blocking my attack. “Oh come on!”

A second Heartless joined the first from an intersection, trapping me between them. They both veered toward me at the same time, and I hit the breaks in response, letting them smash into each other. Too bad it didn’t throw them off, but that was fine. Putting on speed, I came up behind them and whacked the one on the left with Midnight Blue, sending it toppling off its light cycle to crash onto the floor while said light cycle swerved out of control to hit the energy wall to the left.

And just for good measure, I made a quick U-turn and ran over the Heartless on the ground. I didn’t care that it probably would’ve been derezzed a moment later, it made me feel better. 

Goofy and I almost crashed into each other by accident in the intersection, the two of us just barely avoiding each other with identical yelps of surprise.

“Sorry!”

“It’s alright! Just get the Heartless!” I said, and we both gunned it after the remaining Heartless. Goofy slammed into the back of its light cycle, making it spin out of control, and I swerved to the side around Goofy, Midnight Blue pointed directly at the Heartless.

“Blizzara!” I cast, and a giant chunk of ice took the Heartless right off its cycle and right into the energy wall, derezzing it in an instant. All of a sudden, the walls went down, and we were left in the original arena looking around in confusion. We drove our bikes to meet up again, a little confused as to what was going on now.

“Congratulations. You have passed the first round.” Sark said as our bikes disappeared out from under us, and I yelped in pain as my tailbone collided painfully with the ground. “And now, for the second round.”

Instead of another one of the games I was familiar with from the Tron movie, a giant Heartless shaped like a four-legged turret showed up instead, charging up its cannon and aiming directly for us.

“Move!” Sora shouted, he and I diving out of the way in time for the ball of power to shoot past us and hit the wall, blasting a hole into it. Branwen let out a startled laugh.

“Did- did he just seriously-?!”

“Who cares, let’s just get out of here!” Kairi shouted, running for the hole, the rest of us on her tail.

“Stop them!” Sark bellowed, more Heartless spawning in the arena behind us, but it was too late. Once we’d passed into the hole, we broke apart into data again, teleporting back into the cell we’d come from. We all let out a collective sigh of relief, before noticing Tron lying flat on his back next to us.

“Tron!” Donald shouted, and we all raced over to his side. Tron groaned, slowly getting to his feet in clear pain. He staggered to the side, and I lunged forward to catch him before he toppled over.

“Tron! What happened?!” Sora asked, frantic with worry.

“I- wait, why are you here?” Tron asked, bewilderment overriding his pain, for now. 

“We came to give you the password.” Kairi explained.

“Why didn’t you just transmit the data?” Tron groaned. We all froze.

“Well, we were pretty sure the MCP would just nail us again if we touched the computer again.” I said, thinking quickly.

“We were?” Sora asked, before his eyes widened. “Oh! We were!”

“Not that that didn’t stop him from getting us anyway…” Branwen grumbled, looking worried. “Seriously though, are you okay? You can barely stand up straight.”

“I’ll be fine...once we access the DTD.” Tron said. He pulled away from me, testing his own stability, and when he didn’t fall over looked at us with determination in his eyes.

The DTD turned out to be a lot farther away than the canyon was, but it didn’t take us long to make our way there. Our only real holdup was the Heartless, and we were all old hats at taking out small fry like this by now. It’d be really worrying if we weren’t.

The computer terminal this time was right in front of a giant screen, which immediately asked for the password as soon as Tron turned it on.

“Alright, password?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the terminal.

“Uh, Belle, Snow White…wait, what was the order on the diagram again?!” I asked, starting to panic.

“Don’t worry, I gotcha!” Goofy said, and I let out a sigh of relief. Idiot me had been paying more attention to, well, everything else rather than the correct order of the Princess’s names. Moron. “It goes Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella, and Kairi.” he said, making Tron give us a double-take.

“Kairi? As in you?” he asked my sister. She nodded grimly. Tron turned and input the password. The ground around us rumbled, the lines of light turning green around us. Tron whirled around to face us, an excited look on his face.

“That did it! We’re in!” he cheered. He placed his hand on a panel with the outline of, well, a hand, and after a moment it became clear he was downloading something into himself. Tron took his hand off of the panel, looking himself over with an excited grin on his face before turning to the rest of us.

“I’m as good as new! All my functions have been restored!” he said excitedly.

“Alright!”

“Oh boy!” Sora and Donald cheered in unison. That, of course, is when something had to go wrong. Alarms started blaring - still eerily quiet for alarms - as the terminal began pulsing with red light. A laser shot down from above, sending all of us except Tron flying back with a cry of pain, who had managed to jump back in time.

“Finally.” the deep voice of the MCP exclaimed. “I have full access to the DTD. My takeover of the system is now complete.”

“Nuggets!” I hissed, thoroughly pissed off. We needed this information dangit, there were lives at stake here!

“Oh? What’s this? An emergency destruct program for the city.” the MCP commented idly, as though speaking of the weather.

“What?!” all of us shrieked in unison, horrified. Who the frick actually-?!

“Lets see how it performs.” the MCP continued, and if the thing could speak in anything other than a monotone voice I knew it would have said that in self-satisfied smugness.

“No!” Tron shouted, whirling around and practically slamming his hand down onto the panel again. Light pulsed down his arm and into the terminal, and he immediately began frantically typing away as soon as whatever he did finished.

“Program! You changed the password!” the MCP said, his tone a mix of anger and shock. Huh, looks like he could speak in more than a monotone. Barely.

“There, that should buy us some time.” Tron said, turning back to us. 

“Tron! What’s going on?!” Sora demanded.

“The MCP’s loading a hostile program into the I/O tower.” he explained, a note of anger clear in his voice.

“So what do we do?” Kairi asked worriedly.

“We’ve got to protect the User city.” Tron said grimly. “Let’s head to the tower!”

“Right!” we shouted, and followed Tron out of the DTD at a full sprint, racing for the I/O tower and praying we’d get there in time. We ran like we’d never run before, finally bursting into the place gasping and heaving for breath.

“This...is this it?” Branwen wheezed.

“Yes, but-”

Mechanical whirring sounds cut Tron off, drawing our attention to where a Heartless (Hostile Program - wait, seriously?!) hovered in front of the doors, four tiny, spindly legs explaining why. It whirled its machine claw hands threateningly, clearly not about to let us pass.

“I’m disappointed in you, Program.” the voice of the MCP spoke. “Why do you insist on allying yourself with these selfish Users?”

“Oh, like you’re not?” Branwen snarked.

“I am not selfish!” the MCP boomed. “My takeover of the system was only right!”

“You wanna know my answer as to why I’m helping them?” Tron spoke up, looking up at the ceiling as he raised a fist into the air. “Because I want to. Because something written into my code commands me to do what’s right.”

“A moral code.” I said softly.

“A moral code? What is the point of such a Program?” the MCP demanded. I shook my head.

“It’s a program written into the hearts of every sapient being. The knowledge of right and wrong, and the ability to choose between them.” I said, glaring up at the ceiling. “A vital piece of code you obviously lack!”

“I have no need for such a Program.” the MCP said dismissively. “Such coding would be useless to my purpose.”

“Uh oh - look out!” Sora yelped in warning, right before lasers shot out from Hostile Program, forming energy barriers in a circle around us, trapping us in a self made arena. The Heartless floated down to our level, whirring menacingly. We all got ready, weapons out, and when the Heartless started shooting energy bullets everywhere Donald and Kairi returned fire from farther back while Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tron, and I went in close to deal out damage.

“Graviga!” Donald snapped, slowing Hostile Program down from the weight of the spell, and Branwen wasted no time in stomping on the ground to send out a wave of darkness to hit the thing while it was squished onto the floor. Goofy jumped up onto its head, grabbing hold of the unicorn horn on its forehead with one hand and bashing it in the face with his shield with the other, making me crack up as I dodged another energy bullet and knocked Hostile Program’s legs out from underneath it.

Unfortunately the thing could float, apparently, so that didn’t actually do what I wanted it to. Hostile Program reached back and snatched Goofy off its head with one clawed arm, and Goofy yelled as he was sent flying across the arena.

“Goofy! Cura!” Donald cast, while Kairi simply glowered at Hostile Program and rained down stars of light onto its head. Now rather angry, Hostile Program opened its claws and shot out blue lasers, moving them in a sweeping motion like Dark Thorn had over a month ago.

“Not this again!” Sora complained, jumping over a laser before pointing the Kingdom Key directly at the Heartless. “Thundara!”

Hostile Program went absolutely haywire, flailing about like a demented top, forcing several of us to yelp and hit the floor if we didn’t want to get clotheslined by the thing.

“Sora!” Kairi complained, rolling to her feet and getting back into a ready stance.

“Sorry! I didn’t know it would do that!” Sora defended himself. “Aerora!”

Bouncing off one of the energy walls, Hostile Program suddenly charged at us, trying to grab us in its claws. I dodged one grasping claw and returned the favor with several strikes from Midnight Blue now that it had so kindly put itself within range.

“Maybe we can overheat it!” Tron suddenly spoke up, ducking underneath a flailing claw and slamming a fist into Hostile Program, knocking it back.

“Good idea! Dark Fira!” I shouted, engulfing the thing in a fireball of dark flames.

“Fira!”

“Dark Fira!”

“Firaga!” those of us capable of using magic shouted, and Hostile Program did a comical imitation of running around with its butt on fire before desperately shooting energy bullets at us in an attempt to get us to stop.

“It’s almost down! Let’s finish this!” Kairi said. “Donald, combo!”

“Great idea!” he cheered. Hostile Program wasn’t stupid enough to just ignore them, even if it didn’t know exactly what they meant, but Goofy, Tron, Sora, Branwen, and I intercepted its charge, forcing it to deal with us.

“Alright, jump! Aeroga!”

“Fira!” Donald and Kairi cast, jumping so that the magnified fire spell went over our heads and slammed into Hostile Program instead. The Heartless flailed, veering away from us unsteadily, its movements becoming jerky and uncoordinated before its body began glowing, brightly. I shut my eyes and looked away, the light only getting brighter and brighter before it finally died down to a normal level. Opening my eyes, I saw not the disappearing smoke normal for a dead Heartless, but fragments of light instead.

Uh, what? Hadn’t that thing been a Heartless? So then why hadn’t it- you know what, that was one less heart going to the Organization so I wasn’t gonna question it. Actually, weren’t Heartless technically Users too? Meaning all of these hearts weren’t going to the Organization, just getting booted out of the system! Ha!

The death of Hostile Program made the energy walls it had set up fall, and we wasted no time in racing through the door, coming into a dark room lit by only a pillar of light, reaching up into the sky through a circular hole in the tower’s ceiling, just big enough to fit the pillar and no more. Tron ran over to the terminal by the same wall the door was on, turning it on and typing away.

“I really owe you one.” Tron said as he worked. “With all my functions up and running I think I’ve got a chance of getting system control away from the MCP. Now, I’d better get to work. It’s what my User would want.” he added, and our group perked up.

“Actually, Tron, the Ansem we knew and were talking about, the one Riku killed, he isn’t actually Ansem the Wise.” Sora spoke up. “We didn’t know that of course, because he stole his name and everything, but he’s actually an imposter.”

“Wait, really?” Tron asked, eyes wide. “That...actually explains a lot.” he breathed.

“What do you mean?” Donald asked.

“Well, I didn’t know someone had impersonated my User. So, when Ansem the Wise suddenly changed, well...he became my enemy too.” Tron admitted. “It must have been this imposter who brought back the MCP, who Ansem the Wise had deleted when he was customizing the system. The Ansem I knew wouldn’t do that.”

“Wait, this MCP guy was part of the original computer system?” Goofy asked. “Why?”

Tron winced. “That...would take a while to explain. A really long while.” he said apologetically. “It has to do with ENCOM and the original creator of this system. And...it doesn’t really apply anymore, not with this version of the system.” he finished.

“Uh, okay.” Sora said, sounding a little lost.

“Now you should go, before the MCP starts acting up again. Any data you need from the DTD can be accessed directly from the computer itself in the User world.” Tron explained. “I’ll keep a dedicated access channel open for you.”

“Thanks Tron.” I said, giving him a smile, one that he returned.

“You’re welcome.”

“Wait, Riku, what’s an access channel?” Kairi asked. Tron laughed.

“I thought some of you would ask.” he said, a smile on his face. “It’s a very important link between our worlds. It’s how we stay connected.”

“Oh.” I said, blinking. “I thought you meant the other kind of access channel.” Tron laughed, shaking his head.

“I know, it’s confusing.” he said, grinning, before becoming serious again. “As for the MCP, you won’t have to worry about him for a while now that he no longer knows the password. As for what it is, well, it’s you. I’d’ve used your names, but I only had a few seconds to change the password.” Tron admitted sheepishly.

“So then what is it?” Sora asked.

“I can’t say it here, but...you’re guardians, you know? Of what Kairi stands for. You can figure it out from there.” Tron said, before tapping a button. I felt the other side of the connection call, and broke apart into a million pieces, leaving the data world behind.

Chapter Text

We rematerialized in front of Ansem’s computer, all of us now completely used to the effects of switching between the physical and data worlds. Squall stood in front of the computer, which had little animated sprites of all of us in two rows of three on an orange background, white text reading ‘Thank you!’ in between the two rows. 

“Look.” Squall said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m assuming you have something to do with this?”

Branwen laughed. “Just a little!” he chuckled, before growing serious again. “We managed to stop the MCP for now, but he’s not gone for good, not yet.”

“I see.” Squall said, frowning. “So, what now?”

“Getting into the DTD.” Kairi said. “I...we all have things that need answering.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Squall nodded, before beginning to type. “The king’s checking the situation in town. He’ll be back soon, so don’t worry.”

“Situation?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Squall nodded, before the prompt for the password came up. He started entering the old password, before I stopped him.

“Wait. Tron changed the password so the MCP couldn’t get into the DTD.” I explained.

“Okay. So then what is it?” Squall asked, and the rest of our group gave each other uncertain glances.

“Well, Tron couldn’t tell us directly without the MCP listening in, but he did give us a hint.” Sora said, before frowning in thought. “So uh...I know guardians has to be part of it, but what did Tron mean by what Kairi sta- oh wait!” Sora said, cutting himself off as he put it together. “Guardians of light! That’s what the new password is.”

“Nice one.” I grinned.

“Thanks.” Sora replied. Squall smiled, before entering the new password.

“That did it. We’re in.” he said, satisfied, before stepping away from the computer. “I have to go into the city. Need to see what that last shakeup did.” he explained. “So have at it - by which I mean Riku, since I don’t trust the rest of you around a computer.” he added, a smirk on his face. I snickered at the offended expressions on my family’s faces.

“Hey! We’re not that bad!” Sora protested. Squall chuckled.

“Sure you’re not.” he said, patting my little brother on the shoulder before turning and walking out of the room. I stepped up to the computer, before clicking on the search bar and typing in ‘replica research’.

Of course, nothing popped up. Because that would just be too easy.

“Wait, so the computer doesn’t know anything?” Donald asked, crestfallen. I nodded.

“Looks like Vexe- well, I guess Ansem doesn’t know anything about what he did.” I said, catching myself before I finished saying something stupid. Idiot - we weren’t supposed to know they’d been Ansem’s apprentices, not yet. Ansem told me stories about Ansem the Wise (and that is a horribly arrogant name) and his apprentices, yes, but there was no reasonable way for me to connect the dots, not when I didn’t know what they looked like - err, had never been told what they looked like. I knew who they were. 

“What about me?” Kairi asked in a small voice. I hesitantly cleared the search bar and typed in ‘Kairi’.

Data corrupted.

“Of course it is.” I hissed between gritted teeth. Kairi looked like she was torn between relief, frustration, and disappointment. “Looks like we’ll have to ask Ansem that one personally when we find him.” I added for her benefit. That definitely cheered her up.

“What about the Organization?” Sora asked. I typed that in, and-

Data corrupted.

“Are you freaking serious?!” I snarled, glaring at the computer. “Why is everything important screwed up?!”

“Stupid computer!” Sora growled, crossing his arms and scowling. I waited for him to start pounding on the keyboard before realizing that with me here, he wouldn’t. I was the one who knew how to work the thing, after all, and if I couldn’t get anything, well.

I let out an aggravated sigh. “Well, let’s see if this thing knows where Ansem went off to first. It’ll give us a place to start looking.” I said, before typing in ‘Ansem’. A profile popped up, showcasing a picture of the man in question as well as various text to the left. Sage-king of Radiant Garden, master of the castle, blah blah blah…

“Wait, is that the real Ansem?” Branwen asked, pointing at the picture. I nodded.

“Yeah. Well, this is Ansem the Wise anyway. Ansem may have decided to start going by his name, but he wasn’t pretending to be the man in question. He didn’t call himself Ansem the Wise, just Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.” I mused. “So I guess he isn’t really an imposter at all.”

“Huh. Good point.” Sora said.

A sudden earthquake nearly knocked me off my feet, getting alarmed yells from all of us.

“What the heck was that?!” I shouted.

“Outside! Squall mentioned another shake-up - they might need help!” Sora realized. “Let’s go!”

Leaving the useless computer behind, we all took off for the exit - and oh, we were running across the panel that led to Aqua’s armor, had to remember that for when we got her out - only to be interrupted by bursting into a room where Heartless and Nobodies were duking it out. And oh, there was Maleficent over there, wonderful. The evil fairy in question just sniffed, green flame overtaking her body as she faded out, vanishing with her.

“Heartless! Leave the white ones! Turn your attention to Sora and his friends!” Maleficent ordered, before falling silent. Probably left after that, honestly.

“Seriously?!” Donald griped, all of us materializing our weapons. The Dusks, happily enough, seemed content with leaving us alone, and wiggled out of here to parts unknown. Which was nice, but that still left us with the rather large group of Heartless to take care of.

“Out of our way!” Kairi shouted. “Aerora!” A trio of unfortunate Heartless were caught in the green whirlwind and body thrown into the back wall.

“Whoaaaah!” Goofy yelped, a Heartless sending him flying across the room. He held his shield out to brace for impact, only to land on it, bounce twice, and skid a few feet across the floor, managing to bowl over another Heartless in the process. I snorted. Nice.

“I don’t know what happened but it worked!” Branwen said, darting across where Sora and I were fighting back to back to engage a pair of Heartless at close range.

“Fellas, I just got a crazy idea!” I heard Goofy say, though I didn’t have time to see just what it was while I was occupied with a pair of Heartless trying to take my head off like I was. Firing off a circle of light took care of them, and I turned just in time to see Goofy slam his shield into a Heartless’s face before getting a running start and throwing himself to the ground shield-first, bouncing across the floor like a demented bowling ball taking out Heartless.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, ducking under the last Heartless, Sora and I cutting through it with our keyblades in unison. It poofed into dark smoke, and as I looked around I saw that there weren’t any more left.

“That was awesome!” Branwen cheered, going over and giving Goofy a high-five.

“Why thank you, ah-hyuck!” Goofy said, puffing out his chest in pride. A flash of color caught my eye, and I turned to see three tiny wingless - fairies, I think? - floating over in our direction. I frowned. Who were these guys? I didn’t remember them being here…

“Where’s Maleficent?” the girl dressed in pink and blue asked.

“Think she took off.” I answered. “Why?”

The one in fiery colors huffed, crossing her arms and tossing her head to the side. “Well, that was pret-ty lame of her!” 

“I guess we picked the wrong side.” the one in black said evenly, and what?! The trio turned to each other and began semi-quietly debating amongst themselves, though with how much they were talking over each other I could barely make out what they were saying. All I got out of that was ‘lame’, ‘so I figured’, ‘because she seemed that way’, and ‘treasureless loser’. It was the last part that made me snort.

After several seconds of this, Sora spoke up hesitantly. “Uh, hey, if you’re looking to pick sides, why don’t you pick Squall’s? They can always use help.” he suggested. The trio stopped talking, turning to look at him.

“Does this Squall have any treasure?” the pink and blue one asked. Sora hesitated.

“Uhh…”

“Yeah! Lots of stuff!” Donald jumped in enthusiastically.

“Perfect!” the fiery one cheered, throwing both arms into the air while the other two just looked pleased. 

“Come on.” the goth-looking fairy said.

“Wait, who are you guys?” Kairi asked.

“Oh, we’re nothing worth mentioning.” the pink and blue one dismissively, waving a hand at us. She seemed to be their leader, I think.

“Just three treasure fanatics.” the goth one agreed.

“Later, taters!” the fiery one cheered, waving with both hands at us, before disappearing a sparkle of yellow light, the leader and goth fairies quickly following in flashes of blue and pink lights respectively.

“So, uh...what was that?” I asked, a little baffled.

“Wait, before that...Donald, does Squall actually have any…?” Sora started to ask, only to see Donald sniggering off to the side, looking immensely pleased with himself. At our looks he simply took off for the exit, and we followed.

“Okay, if any of them complain it’s on his head.” I grumbled. Stepping outside, we were met by a trio of Dusks, which were immediately taken out without a word. We headed up the ramp, racing for the town, only to be interrupted by a laser of light suddenly slamming into the ground. And when the light faded, it was to show none other than Sephiroth rising to his feet in front of us.

Sephiroth...with three wings.

You know, it was kind of hilarious that Sephiroth showing up with black wings outside of his ‘Safer-Sephiroth’ boss fight first happened not in the Final Fantasy series, but in Kingdom Hearts. So, that whole signature look, with the man having a single black wing out all the time, that actually came from his appearance here.

That never failed to crack me up. Me or Nick and Tristan.

A pang of sadness and longing hit my heart at the memory, but I pushed it aside with the ease of long practice. The grief wasn’t as strong as it had been more than a decade ago. I’d...come to terms with what happened, and moved on.

This was my world now.

“Sora, it’s Sephiroth!” Donald shouted as Sephiroth turned around to face us, and I about lost it right then and there. Nick was right; something about Donald of all people saying that was just too funny, especially out of context.

“Ain’t Sephiroth the one who’s supposed to be the dark part of Cloud’s heart?” Goofy asked, confusion clear in his tone. Branwen frowned.

“I guess?” he asked, looking at me, and I took that as my cue to inhale deeply. Darkness. Just darkness, unlike Cloud who’d still smelled of both light and dark. 

“Who knows. He’s definitely just darkness though.” I said, and about flinched when Sephiroth’s gaze focused directly on me.

“Interesting. Is that what Cloud told you?” he asked dispassionately, gaze never leaving mine.

“Well, yeah, but it doesn’t really make any sense. I don’t get it.” Branwen admitted. Sephiroth just let out a huff of amusement, a smirk curling at his lips.

“No, you wouldn’t. But it seems as though Cloud understands now.” he said.

“Just what are you planning to do?” Kairi demanded, staff at the ready. Sephiroth turned his gaze from mine to hers, and I bristled at the implications. The last thing I wanted was Sephiroth’s attention to be focused on my friends and family. I don’t care that things were different in Kingdom Hearts, he was still Sephiroth and I wasn’t about to take any chances.

“Nothing. Cloud is the one who hungers for darkness.” he said, before turning back to Branwen. “Just like you.”

“I don’t ‘hunger’ for darkness - it’s a part of me, like it is all of us.” Branwen sneered, glaring down Sephiroth in righteous anger. “So what if my heart leans more toward the darkness? It’s not any different from Sora’s leaning more toward the light. It doesn’t affect who we are as people.”

“So you, at least, understand.” Sephiroth said, closing his eyes as a smirk crossed his face again. “You, a mere child-” 

“Hey!” Branwen snarled, balling his hands up into fists.

“-understands what Cloud cannot.” Sephiroth finished, ignoring my twin’s outburst.

“He said he’s got a score to settle with you.” Sora admitted. “Cloud does, I mean.”

“I see...he wants to meet me again.” Sephiroth mused, before turning away from us and taking a couple steps forward. “Then I should give him what he wants. That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out.”

“Uh oh.” I blinked, before realizing that had just slipped out of my mouth without a second thought. Sephiroth turned his head to smirk at us, before unfurling his upper wing and shooting up into the sky, disappearing in a blast of darkness. Leaving nothing but black feathers to show he’d even been here. Branwen walked over to pick one up, examining it curiously.

“Does this mean Cloud has wings too?” he asked curiously.

“I mean, he kind of had a dragon wing last time we saw him…” Sora said, frowning. “I dunno what happened to it though.”

“Makes sense that it would be opposite of Sephiroth’s, if what Cloud told us was true.” Kairi mused, before shaking her head. “We’ve got bigger problems to worry about though.”

“Yeah.” Donald agreed. We took off, moving away from the castle, where we could see Aerith and Squall fighting back to back: Squall with his gunblade and Aerith with her quarterstaff. Oh WOW there went Holy, my poor nose. 

“We’ll help!” Sora shouted, jumping into the fray with the rest of us on his heels.

“Tha- behind you!” Aerith warned, and we whirled around to see Dancer Nobodies showing up for whatever reason, ready to fight.

Despite being sturdier than the average Dusk, there were only four of them and eight of us; naturally, they went down pretty quickly.

“The king’s at the bailey!” Squall told us, shooting a Heartless into the sheer, rocky cliff wall with his gunblade. “You better head over there!”

“Right!” Kairi agreed, and we bolted over there like our lives depended on it, leaving Aerith and Squall to go in another direction. I wasn’t worried; they could take care of themselves, and it wasn’t like they were the only ones fighting in this mess either. They’d be fine. Plus, Holy. Even now I could smell and hear another one going off and absolutely eviscerating any Heartless it touched - Aerith was a menace with that spell and it was great.

The bailey, on the other hand, was a complete and utter wreck when we got there. We crept onward, keeping an eye out for Mickey, before arriving at an overlook to the canyon. The sight made my stomach flip-flop in my gut. Hundreds upon hundreds of Heartless were marching through with single-minded purpose, others funneling into the main force from various directions, bolstering their numbers.

A thousand Heartless. Just looking at them was enough to make my stomach feel like it was in zero gravity. It was one thing to know we’d be fighting this intellectually, and a whole other thing to see this walking disaster in person.

And it wasn’t like they were just made of up Shadows, either - in fact, that was the one thing missing from this mess. There were all kinds of stronger Heartless in there, and it was terrifying.  

“Wh-what are we gonna do? We can’t take that many on at once!” Branwen half-wailed, looking down at the marching army with the same amount of terror I felt.

“We’re not the only ones fighting. The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee’s down there, and the king too!” Goofy pointed out, though the way his voice wavered betrayed that he wasn’t as confident as he tried to sound.

“Yeah. They’re gonna need all the help they can get.” Sora nodded. Mickey picked that moment to launch himself onto the ground in front of us, a look of relief in his eyes.

“You made it!” Mickey said, beaming at us.

“Course we did, your majesty!” Goofy grinned.

“Well then, let’s go together!” Mickey said, before jumping down into the canyon. Watching Sora and Donald follow, landing just fine, made me take a breath and leap after them.

The physics of this world worked entirely differently from the one I knew. I needed to work past the mental blocks in my head if I was going to fight to the best of my ability.

Still, it was hard to unlearn an entire lifetime’s worth of experience screaming in my head that I was about to go splat - even when I didn’t. 

Of course, we ran into Demyx halfway there. Because of course we did. He stepped out of a Corridor into the small plaza we stood in, before shouting in surprise, looking shocked to see us.

“Hey, uh, you guys are looking lively!” he said with a wave.

“Yeah. It’s been a while.” I agreed.

“You know this guy?” Mickey asked. We nodded.

“Yeah. He helped us out when Hades was trying to kidnap Riku.” Sora explained. “I don’t know that we would’ve made it out of that fight as okay as we did without him.”

“Yeah, see! You owe me one!” Demyx agreed. Mickey looked rather torn, while the rest of us were hesitant.

“And...what is it that you want?” Kairi asked nervously.

“Oh, nothing much! Just Roxas ove-”

“I’m not Roxas!”

“He’s not Roxas!” we all shouted, glaring at him. Demyx flinched back from the sheer force in our voices, holding his hands up placatingly.

“Whoa, hey, I get it. You guys think he’s still around.” the Nobody said, before Branwen snorted.

“Didn’t we have this conversation with you earlier? Roxas, Naminé, and Zion are still alive.” Branwen told him. Demyx rolled his eyes.

“Look, just let Roxas come with me, and we can all be on our separate ways, alright? No need to get angry.” he said.

“Like I’m coming with you!” Sora snarled, summoning the Kingdom Key into his hands. The rest of us followed suit, getting ready for a fight.

“Ohhh man, I knew they were sending the wrong guy for this…!” Demyx whimpered.

“So then scram! We’re not letting Sora go anywhere with you!” Donald scowled. Demyx took a deep breath, before all emotion fell from his face, and he pointed a finger directly at my little brother.

“Silence, traitor.” he said, voice chillingly even, before water bubbled up from around him into a dome, coalescing into a bubble from which he summoned Arpeggio into his grasp. Demyx spun it around to hold it in front of him like a guitar, ready to play.

“Oh cool.” slipped out of my mouth before I could even think about censoring it, and I winced at the looks the others were giving me. “What? It is!”

“Oh, you like it?” Demyx asked, some emotion returning to his face as he grinned. “Then just watch this - dance, water, dance!”

Strumming Arpeggio, water clones began to swirl together from the ground, and Branwen shot me a dirty look.

“Thanks a lot Riku!”

“I’m sorry okay!” I yelped, before moving in to start attacking the water clone nearest to me, which was swinging Arpeggio around like a club. We weren’t stupid enough to throw around Thunder spells here, not when we were all soaking wet at this point, but by no means did I expect this to be an easy fight. Demyx was a monster when he got serious, and hadn’t there been a time limit to this too?!

I slashed through another water clone, Demyx playing an admittedly catchy tune in the background as I moved on to another one. After a flurry of blows, that one dispersed, and I realized that had been the last one in the area. So did Demyx, if the widening of his eyes was of any indication.

“Uh oh!” 

Sora was on him then, whacking him over the head with the Kingdom Key, making Demyx yelp in pain. Demyx blocked his next attack with Arpeggio, making a horrendous bong! noise as keyblade and instrument collided, before he sent towers of water shooting forward, knocking Sora back. He threw up a hand and shot out water orbs around him, which Branwen was moving too fast to dodge and thus was sent flying back with a yelp as the ones he collided with exploded violently.

“Aerora!” I snapped, the green wind sending Demyx flying back into the rocky wall, before the Nobody recovered and began playing again, summoning more water clones.

“C’mon, keep to the beat!” he taunted, smirking, before the clones were on us again. I stepped to the side, catching its water instrument on Midnight Blue when it hit me - keep to the beat. I threw the clone’s weapon aside before jumping back, running it through and dispersing it when it took a step forward to re-engage.

“It’s like a rhythm game!” I shouted, watching the water clones moving around in time with Demyx’s song.

“Wait, seriously?!” Sora groaned. Understandably - he sucked at rhythm games. 

“Now you’ve got it!” Demyx grinned, before of course sending the majority of them at me. But I knew how this worked now - dodging to the side, I rammed Midnight Blue through one before slashing at another in a spin attack in the same movement, moving according to the beat as I stepped back and shot a Dark Blizzara this time at the water clones, taking out three of them this time. So long as I moved according to the beat I could anticipate their attacks, but if I screwed up-

Naturally, this was right when Demyx abruptly switched songs, and I took a watery Arpeggio to the face, sending me flying back through several water clones to land painfully on my back.

I coughed up water, the liquid splashing onto the ground. “Rude!” I complained, before rolling to the side to dodge another clone and get to my feet. New song, new rhythm. But just because the song was different didn’t change the fundamentals of the game.

Two more water clones down, and then Kairi took out the last one by raining stars down on its head. Demyx had just a moment to look alarmed before Mickey was all over him with the Kingdom Key D, joined a moment later by a rather pissed-off looking Goofy. That was scary, I didn’t even know he was capable of making that face. 

“Blizarra!” Kairi snapped, jumping up to launch an ice boulder at an angle to fly over our friends’ heads and crash into Demyx’s instead. He yelped in pain, a hand momentarily letting go of Arpeggio to rub where it had hit, before I knocked the wind out of him by way of swinging Midnight Blue into his gut. He choked, hitting the ground, and that’s when Donald hit him with the mother of all Aeroga spells. Seriously, that thing was like a green tornado, throwing Demyx around violently before finally spitting him out, the Nobody colliding with the wall before he dropped to the ground, limp and unmoving.

After a moment, Demyx groaned, pushing himself to his knees. Arpeggio vanished into the ether in a splash of water, and he yelped in alarm as he noticed the disappearance of his weapon. Dark wisps began to gather around him, and I knew he was dying. And he knew it too.

“No waaaay!” Demyx wailed, clutching onto the sides of his head and honestly starting to cry as the darkness multiplied. My expression softened, his terrified cries pulling at my heartstrings. I let Midnight Blue vanish from my grip as I walked over to the stricken Nobody.

“Hey, Demyx. It’s alright. You’re going to recomplete.” I said gently, kneeling down to get to his level. Demyx looked up at me, hurt, fear, and despair in his eyes.

“No I’m not! I’m dying! I’m going to disappear, and I don’t want to die!” he wailed.

“You’re not going to die. I swear it, Demyx. You’ll wake up after this, whole and human again.” I told him seriously. He looked up at me, uncertain hope blossoming in his eyes.

“Y-you really mean it?” he whispered, the darkness beginning to overtake him now. And not just darkness, to my surprise, but water. I nodded. Demyx whimpered, closing his eyes, before the last of him faded out, disappearing into water droplets and darkness before that, too, disappeared.

“Demyx…” Sora said, a pained expression on his face.

“He’ll be alright.” Kairi reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “He was scared because didn’t know he was going to recomplete. But he’ll be fine now.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sora said, though he still looked awful. He shook his head, trying to banish whatever thoughts were plaguing him about Demyx’s death, and cast an Aero on himself to dry off. The rest of us followed his example, not wanting to be soaking wet any longer than we had to.

“...I wonder what they wanted you for, Sora.” Mickey spoke up after a moment.

“Beats me. Probably for nothing good, though.” my little brother said. “C’mon. We can worry about that later - Squall and the others need our help first!”

“Right behind you!” Donald agreed, before an explosion to our right took our attention over to where a giant rock was flying right toward us-!

“Your majesty!”

“Goofy no!” Goofy and I shouted at the same time, Goofy body-checking a startled Mickey out of the way even as I ran toward him, taking the boulder straight to the head before falling over onto his back. I slowed to a stop as the knight was sent skidding over to slam into the opposite wall from the force of the blow. He struck it head-first with a dull thud, and laid there, still. But not dead - I knew that. Not dead. He couldn’t be.

“Goofy!” we all screamed, rushing over to where he lay, Sora and Donald checking him over frantically. I sniffed; I had to make sure...but no. He was alive, thank heavens. That hadn’t changed.

“No…” Mickey breathed, agony written all over his face.

“Hey! You’re the king’s captain! You gotta get up!” Donald shouted, shaking Goofy desperately.

“Hey g-”

“C’mon, wake up!” Sora shouted frantically, eyes wide in terror.

“G-”

“I’m sorry about the ice cream!” Donald added, which made Branwen let out a teary laugh in response. 

Frustration rising, I went with the one thing guaranteed to get everyone’s attention. “Guys!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Everyone froze, turning to look at me; Branwen frozen in the act of wiping his eyes. “Goofy’s not dead.” I said firmly, now that I had their attention. Everyone wore the same shocked expression at hearing that.

“What...what do you mean, he’s not dead?” Kairi asked, voice trembling with hesitant hope.

“I can still smell him. When Shan Yu and Barbossa died, their scents immediately cut out. I couldn’t smell them anymore. But I can still smell Goofy - he’s not dead, probably just out cold.” I explained. Everyone looked at each other, rising hope on their faces.

“R-really? You’re sure?” Sora asked hesitantly. I nodded. He let out a sigh of relief, one echoed by Donald.

“Thank goodness.” Mickey breathed, before scowling. “C’mon. We’ve got to hurry before it’s too late!”

“Somebody sho- I’ll stay with Goofy. It isn’t safe to leave him here alone, and none of us can carry him and still fight.” I pointed out. This wasn’t a video game after all, and I wasn’t risking his life on the assumption that the Heartless wouldn’t run into him before he regained consciousness. “We’ll catch up when he wakes up.”

“Got it. Stay safe, Riku.” Sora told me. I shot him a grin.

“Of course I will, it’s me. Now go! Squall and the others need you right now!” I said urgently. Everyone nodded before taking off, leaving Goofy and I alone in the plaza. I sighed in relief, sitting down next to Goofy’s limp body. He’d wake up soon, I knew that. And when he did, we could-

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Xigbar’s voice rang out smugly through the air, and I snarled as I leapt to my feet, Midnight Blue rematerializing in my hand as Xigbar emerged from a Corridor of Darkness. “A keyblade wielder all alone?”

Chapter Text

I growled. “What are you doing here?” I demanded, standing protectively in front of Goofy’s prone form. He couldn’t defend himself, not when he was unconscious like this.

Goofy had helped me when I’d been knocked out in Timeless River. It was my turn to repay the favor.

“Why, picking up where Demyx left off, of course!” Xigbar said, clapping his hands together in evident delight. “Can’t rely on that guy to get anything done, of course. So I was waiting in the wings, and now here you are!”

“I thought Demyx wanted Sora?” I asked, a little confused but not letting Xigbar throw me off guard. Xigbar laughed.

“Well, Roxas would’ve been preferable, but hey. You’re a keyblade wielder, he’s a keyblade wielder, I’ll take what we can get.” he said, smirking. I scowled, raising Midnight Blue in a ready stance. I didn’t know what was going on here but like heck was I letting him take me anywhere!

“Awww, the little keybearer thinks he can put up a fight?” Xigbar asked tauntingly, his arrowguns appearing in his hands. “Suit yourself. I’d prefer if we did this the easy way, but the hard way works too!” he said, before suddenly teleporting in close, arrowguns swinging toward my face. I yelped, just barely ducking in time, before lashing out with Midnight Blue to hit him in the chest. Xigbar grunted, before teleporting back and shooting me with his arrowguns, getting a cry of pain from me before I rolled out of the way.

“Dark Fira!” I yelled, shooting the magical fireball at Xigbar before charging in after it, blocked from his sight. Xigbar teleported to where I’d been, looking rather surprised to not find me there, and I whirled around on my heels to snap out, “Thundara!”

Xigbar screeched in pain as the electrical spell hit home, before growling and firing a barrage of laser bullets at me, one I had to dodge with a quick roll. And then keep running, because he wasn’t stopping. Throwing myself behind the rock that had taken Goofy out for cover, I started frantically thinking through my options. I didn’t have much, just try to get him at range and- move move move!

I jumped over the boulder as Xigbar teleported behind me, getting out of the way of his rain of bullets before turning back to face him. Xigbar just smirked at me, resting one gun on his shoulder like how my brother would hold the Kingdom Key when not fighting.

“Just give it up, kid. You’re not gonna win this.” he said smugly. And he wasn’t wrong, he-

Hades. Hades teleported. So did Xigbar. I could take him out the same way.

Xigbar just groaned at whatever look must’ve been written all over my face. “Fine. Have it your way.” he said, before teleporting in close. I was expecting that and had raised my keyblade into the air, firing off a circle of light that caught Xigbar right as he teleported in. Capitalizing on the opportunity while Xigbar was on the back foot, I attacked him with Midnight Blue, getting in several free hits before Xigbar recovered and teleported away, glaring at me.

“Dark Blizzard!” I shouted, sending a boulder of black ice at him, one that he dodged easily. I threw another one at him, and another.

“You can’t hit me with that.” Xigbar scoffed, dodging a fourth boulder of ice. “All you’re doing is wasting magic. C’mon, at least make this fun for me.”

“Fire!” I snapped in response, throwing the spell at him. Xigbar just rolled his eyes and teleported away, and I shot another in his direction for good measure. Almost there…

“What are you even doing?” he asked, looking at me like I’d just grown another head even as I splashed through a puddle to put him between myself and the last ice boulder. “I thought you were smarter than this.”

“Fire!” I cast, throwing one last fireball before jumping on top of the boulder that had taken out Goofy, glancing over at my friend to make sure I hadn’t accidentally soaked him. I hadn’t. I smirked at Xigbar, who now looked concerned. “Look around you! Thundara!” I shouted eagerly, firing the spell directly into the melted ice around me. There was only a split second for horrified realization to cross Xigbar’s face before he was being electrocuted, screaming in pain from the strengthened spell before falling over and teleporting out of the trap. Standing on the stairs leading back to the castle, he glared at me as he heaved for breath, pissed off.

I wasn’t any better though - connecting the leftover puddles with melted ice water had taken a lot out of me, even using basic spells, and I’d just fought Demyx to boot. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if he’d put two and two together before I’d been able to finish.

“...I take it back. You’re an irritating brat too smart for his own good.” Xigbar grumbled, giving me a dark look. I couldn’t help but grin tiredly in response. Then Xigbar moved, and I had only a second to raise Midnight Blue in my defense and catch his arrowguns before they slammed into me. I flipped off the boulder, splashing into the water, and I knew by the unholy light in his eye exactly what he was going to do.

“Aerora!”

“Thundaga!” Thankfully I’d cast in time, and the green winds swept away the water around me, saving me from being electrocuted by my own trap. Xigbar just looked put out by this.

“See what I mean?” he complained, before firing a barrage of laser bullets at me. I dodged, only to slip in a puddle of water and go down with a yelp. Xigbar wasted no time in teleporting right next to me and shooting me point blank. I kicked out, knocking his legs out from underneath him before scrambling upright, only to take an arrowgun to the side of my head for my troubles. I hit the ground again, my head bouncing off the stone with a wet splash and a sickening crack!

“Oh crap.” Xigbar muttered, teleporting in close. I wanted to lash out, to get up, but I was still reeling from the blow. “See what you’ve done?” he grumbled, turning me over to examine the injury as I groaned in protest. “Well, looks like you didn’t crack your skull open there...good.” Xigbar said, before picking me up and slinging me over his shoulder.

“H-hey! Put me down!” I shouted, before grabbing him by the ponytail and using it to brace myself so I could scream wordlessly into his ear. Xigbar let out a shout of pain, and his hold loosened enough for me to wiggle out of it, tucking into a roll to get back up onto my feet.

Xigbar at this point was looking pretty murderous. I on the other hand was feeling pretty dizzy, which was not good.

“Cura.” I cast, the healing energy fixing that problem, before Xigbar was on top of me and I was abruptly more focused on getting him out of my face. I managed to elbow him in the gut somewhere in between the flurry of blows, getting him to back up a step long enough to fire off a ring of darkness, catching him off guard and making him teleport back.

What I wasn’t expecting was for him to immediately teleport next to me again and hit me with a Thundaga. Unfortunately for him, we were still standing in a puddle, so we both screamed as the powered-up electricity burned through our bodies. I jumped back, panting, glaring at Xigbar tiredly.

I was running on fumes, and we both knew it. I hadn’t had the chance to rest after fighting Demyx, and now not only were my magic stores running on empty but my muscles were burning with exhaustion too. I had to finish this, and fast.

“Dark Aero! Blizzard!” I yelled, casting the dark winds before quickly slinging an ice boulder into them, and Xigbar was abruptly more focused on getting out of the way. I knew he’d teleport right to me for the attack so-

“Blizzaga!” Except he didn’t, and the ice boulder he shot at my back hit me right in the stomach as I whirled around, sending me flying backward to crash into the wall. I lay there on the ground, heaving for breath, Midnight Blue lying askew in my weakened grip.

Xigbar teleported in front of me, looking smug, though his clearly beat up and soaked state rather ruined the picture. “Alright, playtime’s over, kid.” he said, grabbing hold of me and hoisting me up off the ground. This time though, I turned my head and sank my teeth deep into his arm - or as deep as his coat would let me - making him yelp in pain before a blow to my head disoriented me into letting go.

“Jeez, do I have to get you a muzzle?” Xigbar griped, and I was too wiped out to do anything more than glare at him. And then his back, because I was now over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. My heart sank as Xigbar opened up a Dark Corridor; I’d failed. Goofy was still out of it, I was getting freaking kidnapped, and-

An icy cold tore into my body, as though a bunch of knives disguised as a bucket of glacier melt had just been dumped over me. Negative emotions slammed into me like a tidal wave as I felt the darkness swirl around us, hungry and with teeth. I flailed around, gasping, Xigbar snapping something at me that I couldn’t quite hear over the roaring of envy-terror-hatred-despair-anger-grief in my ears. Something about holding still? And I was supposed to do that how exactly?! We were in a Corridor of Darkness for heaven’s-!

Wait - darkness!! Light flooded out from within me as I drew its pale glow around me like a cloak, almost cheering inside as the corrosive darkness reeled back from its presence. Xigbar actually tripped, though over what I had no idea. 

“That’s- that’s, you can’t-” he was saying, but I was already slamming both fists into his back, panting, trying to pull myself free of his suddenly slackened grip. The pain wasn’t gone but it was getting better - at least until Xigbar grabbed me by the leg and threw me onto my back so hard I was seeing stars. Xigbar came over to…I think pick me up? That sounded ri- wait, are those…he’s, waving fingers in front of my face? Twenty of ‘em? 

“Aaand now you’re concussed. Great.” He grumbled, though I was having a really hard time focusing through the ringing in my ears on his - well, anything. “Sheesh, kid. I’ll fix you when we get back.” Fix me? What was…what? My head hurt, why? 

Light, suddenly. Not mine - gray. 

“Curaga.” Clarity cut through the fog, the splitting headache and incessant ringing in my ears vanishing as I found myself on the floor of…was this the Gray Room?

“I see you have succeeded on your mission.” Xemnas told Xigbar, before turning his head to look at me. “Welcome to the Castle That Never Was, Riku.” 

“Can I return the invite?” I snarked, pushing myself upright. Oh great, I was still soaking wet, and probably looked like a drowned cat to boot. A glowing drowned cat. 

Xigbar just chuckled behind me. “Aero.” He cast, drying himself off - and not me too, the jerk - before walking around to stand next to Xemnas. I’d’ve dried myself off but I was completely out of mana, so staying soaking wet it was. 

“No, I think not. We’ll be taking good care of you here.” Xemnas said, and I shivered at the idea, before my stomach decided to mutiny on me. Why the heck was it- was it because of the Corridor that I felt like I was going to puke? Or because Xigbar had apparently given me a concussion on the way here? Could be both. I remember puking after I’d landed on Hollow Bastion, before getting to the city...dangit.

“Why- why am I here?” I demanded, reeling in the urge to vomit. No. No, I was not going to throw up, I hated puking. 

Xigbar snorted. “Surely you can put two and two together, can’t you? We need keyblade wielders like you, Sora, and your little replica in order to gather hearts for us. We’d be in a real pickle if you all managed to die on us out there, now wouldn’t we?

“Hold on, you seriously kidnapped-” You’re not supposed to know!! “Wait, hearts? The ones we free from Heartless - you’re taking them here somehow?” I asked incredulously, my own heart beating a mile a minute. “And you brought me here as what, a safety measure??”

Xigbar grinned. “Bingo! I knew you were smart. The smartest of the three of you, really. Sora would have been preferable, he’s pretty easy to lead around by the nose, but hey, we can work with smart too. Might even be easier on us.”

I leveled a vicious glare at the Nobody for the insult. “Y-you-!” I snarled, before the bile rose again. To heck with this, if I was gonna puke, I was gonna puke on Xemn- no wait, Xigbar, I’m freaking puking on Luxu!

The only warning the two Nobodies in front of me had as to what was coming was a retching noise before I lifted my head and projectile vomited directly onto Xigbar’s shoes and the lower hem of his coat.

“Eurgh, that’s just disgusting!” Xigbar complained, backing up with a disgusted expression as he surveyed the vomit now painting his clothes. Xemnas just looked amused, though if he knew he was the initial target he wouldn’t be.

“That’s what you get…” I grumbled, before I caught Xemnas moving out of the corner of my eye. I looked up to see he had a hand outstretched, magic gathering in front of it. I scrambled to get to my feet, trying to escape before-

“Sleepga.” he cast, and then everything went dark.

~*~

It took me a minute to realize I was conscious again. Conscious and…dry? Groaning, I sat up, peeling my eyes open to find that a) I was still glowing, and b) I was sitting in a rather large empty cell. A very familiar large empty cell. 

Dangit, this is where they’d been holding Kairi in canon, wasn’t it? At least it wasn’t her who was imprisoned here, I’d rather it be me any day of the week. Still, it was a bit surreal to realize I’d essentially swapped places with her.

Great. That was going to be a problem, especially since glancing around proved this place didn’t have a door. They probably had a mechanism or something for the bars; something my keyblade couldn’t unlock. I sighed, my glow fading as my light returned to my heart. No need to have it out right now, not when it combined with the blindingly white hall outside my cell was giving me a headache. And I thought Castle Oblivion was bad. 

Footsteps echoed through the hallway in question, and I scowled when I saw none other than Xigbar turn the corner. 

“Well, looks like you’re awake!” The Nobody said, grinning at me. “I hope you like the accommodations. Only the best for our little keybearer.” Xigbar smirked, and I resisted the urge to try and bash his face in. 

“Now, I’m a little busy - got a mission today and all - so I’ll just toss you your breakfast.” he added, before pulling out a- was that a bag of dog food?! Yes, yes it was. Xigbar snapped, the bars disappearing, and before I could even register this he’d already slung the bag inside before snapping again to restore the bars, the bag itself skidding to a stop in front of me. I just gave him an incredulous look in response, because dog food.  

“That oughta keep you for a while. In the meantime, you’ve got a couple babysitters.” Xigbar said, snapping his fingers and summoning a pair of Sniper Nobodies this time. “Be good, Riku!” he snickered, before taking a few steps forward and disappearing into a Corridor.

I just stared after him, slack-jawed. He wouldn’t seriously- no, he would. He was getting back at me for the puking incident, wasn’t he?

I groaned, but pulled the bag of dog food over to me regardless. It wasn’t like I had anything else to eat, and Xigbar seemed to expect it to last me a while before he had to get more. It just...it was freaking dog food.  

Sighing, I snapped open the bag and brought a small handful up to sniff, wrinkling my nose at the smell. Well...let’s see how bad this was. I popped them into my mouth, internally frowning at the taste, and how hard they were to chew, before swallowing. I’d...it’d probably be easier to eat this in my dark form, but I didn’t care. I was not eating it like a freaking dog.  

Though...this, wasn’t actually that bad. It tasted better than I’d expected, like a little bit like salmon, or something? Certainly better than the moss in Hollow Bastion, and I’d eaten that no problem. Well, that was because I’d had to, but…

This...wasn’t actually much different, honestly. I just had to hang in here til I could escape. I didn’t have my black coat, which kind of infuriated me. Okay, more than kind of infuriated me, I was pissed and oh was I going to let my little brother have it when I got out of here. ‘You don’t need it anymore since we have the gummi ship’ my foot. What about now, huh?! Do I have the gummi ship now, Sora?! 

Ergh. I knew we shouldn’t have left them behind, I knew it. But I did and now I’m paying for it. Absolutely wonderful job there, Riku. Brilliant move. Freaking heck. 

To be fair to Sora, I did know how to open and use the Corridors of Darkness myself thanks to DiZ. I’ve also been dragged through the things without protection before, once by my world falling and now once by Xigbar. The problem was, I didn’t know if I could take another unprotected trip safely, especially so soon after the last one. I’d always traveled through the spaces between worlds with some kind of protection from the darkness, whether it be the gummi ship or a black coat. And that was the thing - the darkness in the Corridors acted a lot differently than my darkness, or even that of the Realm of Darkness. It was...hungry. And corrosive. A destructive cloud of negativity, seeking to rip, to tear, to destroy. That was all I could use to describe it. 

I couldn’t help but wonder what made it that way. Was it just the passages between worlds that were like that? Corridors, gliders, gummi ships, they were all different ways to traverse the darkness between worlds. And yet, this was the Realm of Light - the darkness here was not natural. Did that have something to do with it? Corridors required black coats, gliders had armor, and the gummi ship, well, the ship itself was your protection.

So it had to be something about this great, unnatural darkness in the Realm of Light that made it so dangerous. I’d been in the Realm of Darkness before, and it was nothing like that.

Sighing, I scooped out another handful and began crunching away. I ate the stupid pellets until my stomach was full, before pushing the bag to the side, out of my way. And...then just sat there, legs crossed.

Did they seriously expect me to just sit here all day? Taking me out of the equation would only slow down progress on their artificial Kingdom Hearts, so it didn’t make sense for them to just let me die of boredom around here. They took me for a reason, and it couldn’t be anything good.

You could only spend so long being anxious before it kind of just...became this weird, surreal kind of normality. And I was freaking bored - there wasn’t a clock or anything around here and I didn’t have a watch so I had no idea how much time had already passed. Just like in Castle Oblivion. It wasn’t like the Sniper Nobodies made for good conversation either, given that they couldn’t speak. I groaned, leaning back. Might as well find something to entertain myself with…I gave the Snipers a considering look. Could I try wiggle-communicating with them, like Kairi had with the Dusks guarding her cell in the Kingdom Hearts Two manga?

…Nope, too embarrassing. And they weren’t Dusks anyway. 

“There is liiight on the other side of the dooooor.” I sang, glad my voice didn’t echo down the hall like I’d half expected it to. “Far beyond the smothering flames and smooooke.”

Oddly enough, the Snipers were listening now. I tilted my head at seeing them turn around, seemingly interested, before shrugging it off. They were probably bored too. Might as well continue.

“The seer who dreamt is far across-”

Wait, were they actually dancing now? Or just wiggling around like Dusks do? I couldn’t help but smile at the thought as I continued singing. “-the raging seaaa. Whispers of the end run through the streeeeets.” Yup, definitely dancing - and speaking of which, actual Dancer Nobodies were showing up too. Joining together in a circle, swaying and spinning to my melancholy song. “Not todaaay, no I don’t wanna see it buuuuuuuurn. Let’s clooose the windows and doors to the woooooooorld.”

“Time will hold as our walls are caving iiiiin.” Two Snipers clasped hands, twirling each other around, and their dance moved to what I think was a slow waltz. I think. I wasn’t exactly familiar with dances dangit. “Just you and me when the end begiiiiiiiins.”

Now we were getting into the chorus. “Maybe our embeeeers will burn again so bright (one day). Maybe our embeeeers will give this world a sight (one day).” I sang, adding each refrain in a higher-pitched voice. “But toniiiight, I can feel the end is neaaar. So don’t leave, stay ri~ight here, right here with meeee.”

Dusks and Dragoons showed up next, quickly followed by Sorcerers and Berserkers, and immediately joined the waltzing couple in their dance. Huh, maybe they’d been a couple before they became Nobodies, who knew? The other Nobodies were quick to change styles as well, acting as though the blank corridor was in fact a ballroom instead.

“Kiss me like the end is coming soooon. Hold me like the wooorld is facing do~ooooom.” I sang softly, watching the Nobodies moving beyond my cell. “Our pooooooweeer and might are burning in fliiiiight. When doom falls on the la~aaaaaaaand, we’ll go out hand in ha~aaaaaaaaand.”

I took a breath. “When the waves have brought to us lion’s goooooooold. They kneeew of dry ink and pages foretooooooold. Mages cannot save us from this burning heaaat. From all the flames deep beneath our feeeeet.” Because volcanic activity was wild and when it decided to blow it blew, and screw everyone else in the aftermath. 

“In this rooom we’re far from the coming doooooom.” The Nobodies suddenly drew back in a circle, leaving a crowd surrounding the original couple. They danced, moving slowly to the beat of my song. “Before the inferno’s fire consuuuuuuuumes. In the end we’ll return to the cosmic toooooooomb.” I sang, before swallowing heavily. “The rising smoke and smell of your perfuuuuuuuume.” 

“Maybe our embeeeers will set the world alight (one day). Maybe our embeeeers will wake our ancient might (one day). But toniiiight, I can feel the end is neaaar. So come hereeee, my deee~ear, hold me nee~ear.”

I swear I saw the Nobody couple lean forward as the rest of them surged back out onto the improvised dance floor, touching their heads together. And they said Nobodies couldn’t feel.

“Kiss me like the end is coming soooon.” I sang, giving the dancing Nobodies a sad smile. “Hold me like the wooorld is facing do~ooooom. Our pooooooweeer and might are burning in fliiiiight.”

“When doom falls on the la~aaaaaaaand, we’ll go out hand in ha~aaaaaaaaand.” 

My mind flashed back to zero hour, to my second parents, and I was abruptly biting back tears.  

“And maybe our embeeeers will end the darkest night (one day).” I continued into the chorus, wiping my eyes with the back of my arm. “And maybe our embeeeers will bring the morning light (one day). But toniiiight, I can feel the end is neaaar. So hold me deeeeeeeear, before we disappe~ear.”

“Kiss me like the end is coming soooon. Hold me like the wooorld is facing do~ooooom. Our pooooooweeer and might are burning in fli~ight, oh~ohhhh.” I took a breath, before slowing down for the final verse. “When doooom falls on the la~aaaaaaaand, we’ll perish hand in ha~aaaaaaaaand.”

The Nobodies kind of hovered for a minute, waiting, before it became apparent that the song was over. That’s when a Dragoon suddenly got right up in my face - or as close as it could get with the bars in the way - and started wiggling frantically.

“What, you want me to sing again?” I asked, and it nodded in confirmation. “Guess you liked Rosemary Moonrise’s Doom, huh? Well…there is a lyric cover of the Song of Healing I really like, not to mention the Prince of Egypt has got some serious bangers. Charlie Winston’s My Name is another good one, same with Here’s A Health to the Company, even if…even if I can’t quite remember the songwriter’s name anymore.” I admitted quietly. Mournfully. “Johns-something, I know it had Johns in there somewhere. I do remember Stealing Sheep wrote Shut Eye though, that one’s fun to sing.” I couldn’t help it; I smiled. There was always something comforting about singing, something I could never put into words but was there nonetheless. Even if some things had slipped away from me. Sometimes all that was left was the chorus. Sometimes not even that. 

Speaking of the Prince of Egypt, Deliver Us was just begging to be sung in this situation, I had to. “Mud, and lift. Sand, and pu~ll. Water, and raise up. Straw…faster!”

“With the sting of the whip on my shou~lder. With the salt of my sweat on my bro-o-w…”

This, is not at all how I expected today to go. But hey, I was no longer bored, so I’d take it.

~*~

When Xigbar finally came back who knows how long later (I had finally put my foot down on the singing when my throat started to hurt, and the Nobodies all dispersed save for the original guards), I was running around in circles in my dark form chasing my tail like an idiot. As soon as I saw him standing there I froze, before shifting forms and shooting him a glare, trying to hide my embarrassment. “What?” And then my eyes fell on the plate he was holding. “Wait, you brought me food?”

Bizarrely, Xigbar just looked stunned. “Of course I brought you food. It was just a jo- wait did you actually eat that?!” Xigbar asked, gaping at the open bag of dog food.

“Well yeah. You said it would last me a while, and it’s not like you gave me any reason to think you’d actually be coming back with food.” I said defensively. Xigbar still looked stunned, but visibly decided to shake it off and move on.

“Well, I brought you food, so back up. Unless you don’t want it, of course.” Xigbar said. I took a few steps back, and I saw Xigbar snap his fingers, dissolving the bars in order to stick my food in, before snapping them again to restore them. Just like he’d done to give me the bag in the first place. Good to confirm that’s how it worked.

I walked over to the plate, eyes lighting up when I saw the silverware. “Oh, you brought me silverware too. Cool.”

Xigbar looked like I’d pulled a rug out from under his feet. “Of course we brought you silverware, we’re not- sheesh.” he cut himself off, shaking his head in disbelief. “Well, eat up. You’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

“I do? Like what?” I asked, tucking into the food neatly and quickly, not wasting a single bite. Some habits you never broke.

Xigbar just smirked at me. “You’ll see. But you’ll be getting plenty of exercise, I promise. No more lazing about for you now that everything’s set up.”

And wasn’t that ominous. Finished with my food, I set the silverware back on the plate before sliding it forward and backing up. This was clearly a weak point in the system - I just needed to figure out how to exploit it.

My thoughts must’ve been written all over my face, or maybe it was just obvious that I’d be thinking of ways to escape, because Xigbar snorted. “Don’t bother trying to jump me while you’re getting food. That’ll just get you nothing but a beatdown.” he said scathingly. “And pass the bag back, I’ll get rid of it.”

I hesitated for a few seconds before handing it over, and Xigbar picked it up by the top and immediately handed it off to the nearest Sniper, who went off to who knows where with it. With that, Xigbar snapped the bars back into place before turning around to leave. He raised a hand in a backwards wave and left the hallway behind.

Well, nuggets. Whatever they wanted me to do couldn’t be good. The lights suddenly dimmed drastically, taking me by surprise. Was it- was it nighttime? It was impossible to tell, given that the sun never rose in the World That Never Was, but...I mean, they had to have a day-night cycle. So I guess it was lights-out.

I lay down on the floor, before my darkness enveloped me and changed me back into a wolf. I was glad I came with a built-in fur coat, the World That Never Was was surprisingly chilly. Probably had something to do with not having a sun or something. Sure, I could pull out the comfy sleeping bag Santa had given me weeks ago, but they’d probably just take it from me and then I’d never get it back and that was not an option. That thing was amazing and it was mine. And as I’d found out in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, sleeping on the ground as a wolf was a lot more comfy than as a human. So wolf form it was. 

Curling up, I laid a foreleg over my eyes and squeezed them shut, a whine slipping out of my throat as the biology of my current form translated the tears I could no longer cry into the appropriate signals. I was a prisoner here and completely at the nonexistent mercy of the Organization and it was terrifying. 

I didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow. Would they be frog-marching me through the worlds to kill Heartless? They’d have to be watching me like a hawk to make sure I didn’t try to escape...they’d probably put that stupid Recusant’s Sigil on me too. But if they took me outside, then that was my best bet to try to escape. 

But first, sleep. I wasn’t going to be any good exhausted. 

~*~

I laced up my boots, pulling on my gloves excitedly as I practically ran out the back door and into the backyard, which was covered with almost two feet of snow. Nick was ahead of me, building a snowman with Tristan.

“Took your time, Morgan!” Tristan teased, and I flushed.

“It’s not my fault I couldn’t find my other boot!” I grumbled, walking over to start rolling up the snowman’s head while Tristan and Nick heaved the middle body part on top of the bottom. Thankfully the head didn’t take long, since it was a lot smaller than the other two parts, and I was able to lift it up no problem and set it on top of our now complete snowman.

“Wait, you know what this needs?” Nick asked, before grinning at us. “Buttons and a carrot. It’s not a real snowman without buttons and carrots.”

I nodded my head in agreement. “Be right back.” I told them, before turning and walking back over to the house, opening the sliding back door and peeking my head inside, where Dad was cleaning the kitchen counter.

“Dad! Do you know where the buttons are?” I asked, not wanting to go through the hassle of getting my shoes and gloves off just to put them back on again. Dad just looked up before snorting.

“I figured you’d want them.” he said, before grabbing a container of multicolored buttons and a pair of carrots he’d set aside by the knife block and pushed them across the counter. Oh nice!

I beamed at him, snatching them up. “Thanks Dad!” I grinned, before turning and running back outside.

“You forgot to close the door!” Dad yelled after me. I skidded to a stop.

“Sorry!” I yelled back, and winced as Dad slid the door closed behind me. I walked back over to where Nick and Tristan stood in front of our snowman, and handed the box of buttons over to Nick before sticking the carrot in the snowman’s face to give him a nose. Tristan took some buttons before crouching down, placing them on the middle part of the snowman while Nick gave our snowman mismatched eyes.

“Let’s make another one!” Tristan cheered. “We’ve got one more carrot to use!”

“How about we make it a race?” Nick asked with a smirk. “The three of us build one each, and whoever’s is the biggest gets the carrot nose.”

“Oh you’re on!” I said, bending over to grab at the snow.

“Wait a minute, you’ve gotta wait till we’re all ready first!” Nick scolded me. I stood upright sheepishly, embarrassment all over my face.

“Sorry.” I said. Nick just waved me off.

“It’s alright. Now go get ready.” I nodded before moving over to another part of the backyard, where there was more snow. Nick and Tristan did the same, and once we’d all stopped moving, Nick decided to count us off. “Ready...set...go!”

I immediately bent over, grabbing snow and rolling it together. I pushed it across the lawn, watching as it picked up snow, getting bigger and bigger with every roll. It wasn’t until the thing was as big as a large beach ball that I stopped, and started rolling the second part.

That’s...when I ran into trouble. Oh, I rolled up the second ball of snow just fine, but I realized I’d screwed up and made the base too big when I couldn’t lift the thing, not with my scrawny twelve year old body. It couldn’t be too small or it’d look awkward, but if I couldn’t get it up there it wouldn’t matter how big the base of the snowman was.

Scowling, I admitted defeat, shaving off some of the base to shrink it down before doing the same to the middle ball of snow, which of course broke in half. I shook my head, before clumping it back together and rolling it again. Now holding a smaller ball of snow, I lifted it up and staggered over a step to set it down on top of the base. There, done.

“Done!” Tristan echoed, a smug grin on his face as Nick and I turned to look at his finished snowman.

“Rude!” I called back, glancing at Nick’s, who was just missing its head, and began rolling up a third ball of snow faster. Once I felt it was big enough, I picked it up and set it on top of my snowman, turning around and yelling “Done!” in unison with Nick. Tristan just started laughing at us, the jerk.

“Alright, alright. Let’s see whose is the biggest.” Nick said, and we all walked into the middle of the yard to survey our snowmen. They were all pretty close, but uh…

“Well nuggets. Mine’s the smallest.” I sighed. Tristan just patted me on the back in sympathy.

“I think Nick’s is the biggest, honestly.” Tristan said, and I looked between his and Tristan’s before nodding.

“Yeah, me too. Looks like you get the carrot and buttons. Ours shall forever be faceless snowmen.” I snickered. Nick laughed.

“Snowmen Dusks!” he sniggered, and we all cracked up at the imagery.

“Yes! Dusk snowmen!” Tristan cackled. Nick walked over to our original snowman, picking up the box of buttons and the carrot before walking over to his own. I looked over at Tristan just in time to catch a snowball to the face, and spluttered in shock as I batted the snow away.

“What the heck?!”

“Snowball fight!” Tristan cheered, scooping down to get a second one, before yelping as I threw one at his head.

“Guys, wait for me!” Nick protested, shoving the last button onto his snowman before running over, the eleven year old scooping up a handful of snow as he did so. I ducked Tristan’s throw before returning fire to catch him in the chest, and then took Nick’s to the shoulder.

“Oh now you’re asking for it.” I grinned, scooping up two handfuls of snow at once and lobbing them at Nick, who shrieked and pulled his hood over his bright red hair and around his face to shield his head from the snow.

“I’ll get you for that!” Nick yelled, and I snickered as I dodged Tristan’s throw by ducking behind our original snowman, grabbing another ball of snow before running around and nailing Nick in the back with it. The ginger returned fire, only to get hit from behind by Tristan, and while the two were chasing each other around I ducked behind my snowman and started stockpiling ammunition. Armed and ready, I began throwing them at the two eleven year olds, relishing at being able to pepper my best friends without needing to keep gathering ammunition after every throw. 

“Wait, Tristan! Stop Morgan!” Nick shrieked, pointing at me, and I looked up in time to see Trista- oh no!

“Raaaaawwwrrr!” Tristan shouted gleefully, holding the mother of all snowballs over his head - seriously, that thing was freaking huge! Panicking - I’d just thrown my last snowball - I looked around for something, anything, to defend myself with, before my eyes landed on the faceless snowman head in front of me. I snatched it off the snowman, and Tristan’s expression went from ‘mwahaha!’ to ‘oh frick’ in a split second.

“Morgan…” Tristan said uncertainly, brown eyes wide as I stepped up from behind the snowman, grinning evilly before charging at him with the snowman head. “Morgaaan!!”

Nick busted up laughing as I chased Tristan around the backyard, holding the snowman head in front of me until I finally got close enough to throw it at him without missing, and Tristan let out an ‘oof’ as the force knocked him over to faceplant into the snow.

“Are you okay, Tristan?” I asked, giggling as I held out my hand. Tristan groaned, before pushing himself up and taking it.

“It’s too cold out here, man!” he complained, brushing snow off himself. “And now I’ve got snow melting under my clothes!”

“Dude, we all have snow melting under our clothes.” Nick pointed out, snickering. Tristan just shot him a dark look for that.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go inside for some hot chocolate.” he said.

“Hot chocolate sounds great right now.” I agreed happily. Nick just sighed, giving Tristan a wry grin.

“Fine, you big baby. Let’s get you out of the cold.” Nick chuckled, getting a shout of protest from Tristan. I scraped the snow off my boots on the mat in front of the sliding glass door before opening it and taking them off to put on the shoe dryer. Nick, Tristan, and I hung up our coats on the drying rack and set our gloves on the mat beneath it.

“All done with the snow?” Dad smiled.

“Yes.” Tristan groaned, sitting down at the table. “I’m all for hot chocolate now.”

“You’re the one who started the snowball fight.” I reminded him, snickering. Tristan nodded, a grin on his face.

“Yeah, and your face was totally worth it.” he snickered.

“So was yours when Morgan hit you with the snowman head.” Nick agreed. We all burst out laughing as Dad came over with the hot chocolate and bag of mini marshmallows.

“Well, enjoy. Miri and I might go out in this snow ourselves.” Dad told me with a smile, before walking into the living room and heading up the stairs. I took a sip of my hot chocolate, relishing the warmth as it slid down my throat, warming me up from the inside.

Hot chocolate with friends was the best.

~*~

I woke up with a chuckle, a smile on my face as I opened my eyes, before my surroundings registered in my brain. Sturdy bars instead of a homey kitchen, the sounds of Sniper Nobodies instead of the laughter of friends, and fur and paws instead of normal human hands. Sadness welled up in my heart as I dropped what would have been a smile on a human face but instead translated as a baring of teeth on a wolf’s muzzle. It had been such a nice dream...or rather, a memory.

It didn’t matter that I had accepted what had happened, that I had moved on with my life; I would always miss my friends and family. Always.

Chapter Text

I was woken up for the second time that day by the lights flipping on. Lights had always been better than noise for waking me up, and dying hadn’t changed that. I sat up, shifting forms and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, before Xaldin showed up with my breakfast.

“Eat. You’ll need it for what’s next.” Xaldin said ominously, getting rid of the bars before sliding me the food. For whatever reason, he didn’t close up the cell again while I ate, and when I was done, instead of taking it and leaving like Xigbar had, he simply ordered the Snipers to do it.

“Come. Your mission awaits.” he told me, before stepping aside, clearly expecting me to follow. I did, and he led me down the hall and to the right before pulling open a door and ushering me inside. It was a large, blank room, with literally nothing in it.

“Uhh, what’s this about?” I asked, more than a little confused. Xaldin smirked.

“You’ll see. And don’t be fooled; you won’t be escaping from here. We’re not stupid enough to just shut you in a room and expect you to do your job.” he scoffed, before rolling his eyes.

Wait, my job? “What job?” I demanded uneasily.

“Collecting hearts for the Organization, of course.” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Why though? Xigbar mentioned you were collecting hearts, but what would you even do with them when you have them?” I asked, pretending to have no idea what was going on here. 

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t know.” Xaldin realized. He smirked, letting his arms fall back to his sides. He was clearly enjoying lording this over me, nevermind the fact that he just looked like a smug idiot from my perspective since I already knew about their plans. “Every Heartless you and your friends slay with the keyblade releases a captive heart. They come together here, in the World That Never Was, to form Kingdom Hearts. And when it is finally complete, we will be real beings once again.”

I couldn’t resist verbally jabbing at him. “Uh, I hate to break it to you, but a giant mass of floating hearts in the sky isn’t going to do that for you.”

Xaldin just rolled his eyes. “It will when we merge with it.”

“Uhh, seriously? Isn’t that just going to end with who knows how many hearts fighting you for control of your body?” I asked incredulously. I mean I knew Xehanort was planning on using it to Nort the others here but there had to be a trick to it to stop, well, that from happening.

Xaldin scoffed. “You understand nothing about how the great Kingdom Hearts works. It is more than just some conglomeration of hearts. But don’t worry, you’ll see soon enough. You’ll be helping us build the last of it, after all.”

“Great.” I deadpanned. Xaldin smirked from where he stood between me and the door.

“As for the Heartless, they’ll be here as soon as you are ready. Or sooner, should you simply stand there like a simpleton.”

Uneasily, I summoned Midnight Blue, not really seeing another option. And once I had, Xaldin snapped his fingers, summoning a good couple dozen Heartless into the room.

“Don’t disappoint us, Riku.” he said, before leaning back as the Heartless attacked. I gritted my teeth, raising my keyblade and firing off a ring of light, forcing Xaldin to take a quick step back so as not to be hit along with the Heartless. Yes, I was that petty.

With the Heartless directly around me on the back foot, I lunged, slamming Midnight Blue into one of them before following it up with a second strike, and watched in dismay as a heart floated up from the dark smoke, flying into the air before disappearing.

What was I gonna do? I couldn’t just not fight, that would get me killed or worse. But if it was the keyblade that released hearts-

I dematerialized Midnight Blue, raising my arm to aim a hand at one of the Powerwilds in front of me. “Fire!”

The flames engulfed the Heartless, leaving no heart behind. But to my surprise, Xaldin just laughed darkly in response.

“You can try to avoid your mission, but you’ll run out of mana eventually. And we’re not about to supply you with ethers.” he told me, dark amusement in his voice. I just scowled. He wasn’t wrong, and while I had ethers of my own they wouldn’t last forever. And when they inevitably ran out and I was waiting for my mana to regenerate I’d have to switch back to using Midnight Blue, defeating the point of not using it in the first place. I gritted my teeth - how was I supposed to stop this?! 

“Dark Aerora!” I snapped - and oh, that was stronger than usual, was it the place that did it? - rolling to dodge a Large Body trying to run me over before blasting it back into three others with a dark whirlwind, killing all of them. Xaldin was content to continue leaning against the wall, watching me. Waiting for when I caved to the inevitable.

No, I wasn’t giving up. I’d find a way to get around this, I swore it. 

Okay, so options. I raised my keyblade, firing off a ring of darkness to buy myself some time to think. Midnight Blue was out, and my magic would run dry eventually. Even in wolf form I used Midnight Blue to fi-

Wolf form. I’d always fought with Midnight Blue and magic, but what if I didn’t summon my keyblade after I transformed? I’d attacked that hydra in Olympus Coliseum over a month ago without it, even if I had brought it out again right after. So, could I do this?

I didn’t really have much of a choice. The Heartless were on me - it was this or nothing now.

“Dark Aerora!” I cast again, overpowering the spell to blast the Heartless back away from me to give me space to transform, the darkness of my heart covering me like a second skin. I lunged, teeth bared, and sunk them into the waist of a smaller Heartless. There was a shriek of pain as the monster struggled in my grip, and after a split second of awkward confusion I shook my head rapidly back and forth like I’d seen Hero do to his squeaky toys in my past life. Like how wolves killed their prey.

The Heartless burst into black smoke, and I grinned maliciously as I saw that no heart had risen from it. Perfect.

“What are you- what are you doing?!” Xaldin gaped. Clearly, he hadn’t expected this. Which was fair, I hadn’t thought of this either until just now.

<Fighting Heartless.> I retorted scathingly, before lunging around a Soldier and pouncing on it. I sunk my teeth into its shoulder, scrabbling at it with my claws, which…were canine-dull. Right. The Soldier sliced me with its own much sharper claws while I was confused, and I let go on instinct before growling and body-slamming it into the ground, the Heartless poofing into smoke beneath me.

That was two down - I could do this!

Xaldin growled and snapped his fingers, and the Heartless vanished save for the Yellow Opera I’d caught in my jaws, which I quickly dispatched. He stalked over to me, murder in his eyes.

“Get back to normal, now.” he snarled. I hesitated, before standing resolute, glaring right into his eyes.

<No.> I stated firmly. Xaldin summoned his lances, all of them pointed directly at me, which made me shrink back slightly, nervous.

“You will either change back, or I will make you change.” he threatened. I took a breath before settling on my choice. The only choice I could’ve made, really.

<No.> I repeated myself.

“Then so be it.” Xaldin growled, and his lances flew. I dodged to the side, Midnight Blue appearing in my jaws, and charged in for the attack. Xaldin kicked himself up into the air, supporting himself on the wind, and I just got a clever idea.

<Dark Fira!> I cast gleefully, the flames sinking into the winds to suddenly engulf Xaldin in a giant fireball - and then it was snuffed out, just like that. A flash in the pan.

“You’ll have to do better than that, Riku!” Xaldin smirked, his lances darting out to surround me. Knowing that could be nothing good, I leapt out from the circle, only for Xaldin to blast himself forward with all the power of wind and slam a fist into my ribs. I yelped, bouncing painfully off the floor twice before gasping for breath, winded, having lost Midnight Blue somewhere in the impact. 

“You really thought you co-” Xaldin suddenly cut himself off as I launched myself from the floor like a furry missile, grabbing one of his spears in my jaws and whipping my head to the side, slicing him down the side with his own weapon.

This...pissed him off, to put it mildly. Xaldin roared, gales appearing in the room, and I very quickly let go of his lance before the whirlwinds tore into me.

I barely even noticed the door opening behind me, preoccupied with Xaldin as I was. “What’s going o-?” Saix immediately let out a very undignified yelp as he abruptly took me to the face in a particularly ill-timed attack from Xaldin. He got up, growling, and with a snap of his fingers the other Nobody and I were suddenly being forced apart by Berserker Nobodies, mine in particular pushing me down against the floor. Rude.

“And just what, are you two doing?” Saix snapped, glaring at the both of us, who were being held apart like unruly children.

“This...brat thinks he can get away with killing Heartless like a savage beast instead of with the keyblade!” Xaldin spat, glaring at me, which I returned in kind, lips riding up to reveal very sharp teeth - as this butthole had found out the hard way.

“That doesn’t mean you can kill him, Xaldin.” Saix said derisively.

“I wasn’t going to kill him, just maim him til he stopped!” Xaldin protested. Saix gave him a look, before turning a second, more assessing, one on me.

“...We’ll throw him back in the cell for now. I’m sure Lord Xemnas can easily find a more...incentive method to ensure his obedience when he gets back.” he said, and I shivered. “Take him there.”

One of the Berserkers grabbed me by the mane of fur on the back of my neck, and oh no that was not happening! Shifting forms, said mane vanished alongside my darkness, and I wiggled free to glare at the lesser Nobody who’d attempted that.

“Try that again and I’ll-!” I started shouting, until one of Xaldin’s spears shot into my leg. I let out a pained scream as he ripped it back out, calling it back to his hand with a smirk.

“Don’t forget, you’re our prisoner here.” he sneered. “One way or another, you will follow orders.”

“Don’t count on it.” I snapped, before Saix lunged forward and grabbed me by the arm, apparently done with our crap. “Hey, okay! I can walk!” I protested, but he just yanked me forward in response. Saix half-dragged me back to the cell, all but throwing me inside as soon as the bars vanished on command.

“I suggest you take this time before the Superior decides your fate to think about your options here.” Saix said menacingly, snapping to restore the bars. He then summoned a pair of Berserker Nobodies as guards before storming off down the hall. I winced, putting my hands to my leg.

“Cura.” I said, sighing in relief as the pain faded. Xaldin had gored me pretty good, but the spear hadn’t gone all the way through my leg. Cura was enough to close the wounds I had from the fight.

Xemnas, though. I couldn’t help the surge of fluttering fear in my stomach at the name.

Xemnas was...hands down the scariest villain in Kingdom Hearts. There were villains who’d committed worse atrocities - Luxu and the Puppetmaster for one - but Xemnas was…

There was just something deeply unnerving about a man who did not care.  

I was brought out of my thoughts by approaching footsteps, and I looked up to see none other than Luxord walking toward me.

“That was poorly played of you, Riku.” he said, coming to a stop in front of the bars. “You know we hold all the cards. You don’t have any other options than to concede defeat.”

“No thanks.” I snarked. To my surprise Luxord just smirked.

“Yes, I predicted that would be your answer.” he said casually, snapping his cards out into his hand, before flicking his wrist to slide them all on top of each other, dematerializing his weapon. “I also predict that it will be merely a week before you break.”

I scoffed. “A week?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yes. Normally, I wouldn’t even go that far, but you’re a rather stubborn sort.” Luxord said. “You see, you won’t be getting any meals anymore. Only water - can’t have you dying on us, after all. But food you can live without.” he added blithely. 

I just snorted. Obviously. But…

“Why would you think that would get me to do what you want?” I asked, honestly curious. I’d spent the better part of a year starving on Hollow Bastion while still fighting for my life every day, did they seriously think it would take only a week of nothing to get me to cave?

Luxord just raised an eyebrow. “Don’t underestimate the weakness of hunger. And you will still be fighting; expending more and more of your energy until you collapse. And even then, you will have no respite.” he said idly, and again, what? Granted it had been half a year at this point but that didn’t erase the experience of fighting through hunger and pain and moving, always moving, ever plagued by the uncertainty of finding my next meal, if I even would at all.

So...why were they acting like this would break me?

Luxord was apparently offended at my confusion for whatever reason, because he scowled. “Oh, you don’t think it’s anything now, but trust me, you will.” he sneered, before turning around and starting to walk away. “And you’ll fold in the end.” he finished, vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness.

“Drama queen.” I scoffed, before sighing. So. Back to this again. Hello hunger my old friend.

I snorted. Jeez. Still, though, I had to wonder...how on earth did they think this was going to work? Out of everything they could have hit me with, they chose to go with not feeding me? Me, the guy who spent almost a year starving on Hollow Bastion?

Unless...they didn’t actually know about it, somehow? But, how? I’d been stuck with Ansem the majority of the time, and while they’d been on separate missions Ansem and Xemnas were both working toward the same goal. They had to have been communicating. Right? ...Right?

But, if they actually hadn’t, then...that explained a lot. I groaned, lying down on the floor as this sunk in. Great. Xehanort’s communication skills sucked even with himself, why am I even surprised.

I smirked. Well, if they thought just a week without food was gonna make me get down on my hands and knees and beg, they were in for a nasty surprise.

~*~

Day after day, the Nobodies came, looking expectant. Looking to see a broken teenager, ready to beg for it to stop.

I wasn’t a broken teenager. A week without food was nothing to me, and I relished in their looks of frustration at the fact. They tossed me water bottles every so often, and still dragged me into the Heartless room to fight of course, but I refused to give them what they wanted. And hey, it was good practice for fighting weaponless like this, so I wasn’t complaining. And while they teased and taunted me every time my stomach rumbled its displeasure at its emptiness, well...

I was long since desensitized to stomach growling.

Today, though, was the ninth day since the Organization decided trying to starve me into obedience was a good idea. And this morning, it was Xigbar who came to drag me out. 

“Alright you, get up. We’ve got something special in mind for you today.” he sneered, removing the bars, and I got up with a frown, uneasy. That was never a good thing.

And it wasn’t - as soon as Xigbar brought me to the Heartless room, I froze at the sight of Xemnas standing in the middle of the room. And then yelped and staggered forward as Xigbar shoved his hand into my back, evidently displeased that I’d frozen in front of the door.

“It appears you’ve been rather stubborn, Riku.” Xemnas said idly, and I scowled at him. “You have one last chance - cease this meaningless resistance and gather hearts for the Organization, or face the consequences for your defiance.”

“Fat chance of that.” I spat angrily, clenching my fists as I glared at Xehanort’s Nobody.

Xemnas closed his eyes. “So it seems.” he mused, before raising his arm and jerking it to the side, summoning just a single Shadow Heartless. I frowned, giving him a puzzled look.

“Wha-?” Suddenly, Sorcerer Nobodies were all over me, stretching out my limbs and holding me in place, keeping me from fighting back. “Hey!” I protested, struggling in their grip, but it was no use. I couldn’t get free.

“Since you will not serve us willingly, perhaps more incentive is needed.” Xemnas said, before raising his arm to point his hand at me. “And what more incentive is there than needing Kingdom Hearts just as much as we do?”

“What?” I gaped, before the horrifying realization dawned on me. “Wait, no! Let go of me let go of me let go of me!” I yelled, pure panic and adrenaline thundering through my body as I struggled and kicked and snapped. One of the Nobodies yanked my head back by my hair, and I only had time to let out a cry of pain before the Heartless was on me.

A single clawed hand sunk bloodlessly into my chest, and my eyes widened in horror as I felt its grip around my heart. It pulled, and ripped-

I collapsed in the Sorcerers’ grip like a puppet with its strings cut, the lesser Nobodies the only thing keeping me from faceplanting into the floor. I struggled to draw in breath, gray dancing at the edges of my vision even as I felt like my heart had been replaced with a leaden weight. Xemnas casually cut through the Heartless with a laser, before taking my heart in his other hand.

My. heart. I…

It was beautiful. And it did not belong out here.

“Intriguing. It truly is split exactly down the middle.” Xemnas said, studying my heart from where it floated above his open palm; the crystalline form exactly like the hearts seen from the Kingdom Hearts Three Heartless death Game Over screens, its soft pink glow highlighting Xemnas’s features. Which was not encouraging, let me tell you. I opened my mouth to respond, before shutting it as darkness seemed to billow up within the cavity of my chest, expanding too rapidly for me to bear as darkness tore out from my heart, swirling around to hide it from view. A bestial Heartless burst out of the dark cloud, taking the leaden weight, the darkness, and my heart with it. 

The Heartless in front of me was a black wolf with skeletal legs, ears poking out of a bony helmet with the red Sheikah eye painted over the jagged holes where its bright yellow eyes shone through. A bony spine and ribcage sat on the outside of its body, stomach split open to reveal the flames within, dripping licks of fire. The flames ran all the way from its chest to its tail, which was made up of that same fire. And right there on the center of its forehead sat the Lorulean Triforce, the triangles pale green in color. The color of the Underworld. 

Death Knell. That was its name. Because of course my Heartless would be boss-class, why not. 

Death Knell howled, before dashing forward and disappearing into a bloom of darkness, completely ignoring the rest of us in the room.

“Hey! Get back here!” Xigbar was yelling, and I laughed breathlessly at the resulting silence, darkness overtaking my vision. The last thing I heard was Xemnas’s question of “Why Death Knell?” before everything went black. 

And then...there was nothing.

~*~

I groaned, regaining consciousness on the floor of my cell. Panic hit me, except, it wasn’t panic, not really. Just this strange void, because-

I couldn’t feel.  

I wheezed, the turmoil intensifying, my body reacting in the way it knew it should while my mind reeled from the cognitive dissonance of panicking emotionlessly. Which just made it worse, because it was wrong wrong wrong, and why couldn’t I feel anything?! Wasn’t, wasn’t my soul the equivalent of the heart and soul of this reality?! S-so why-?!

That’s when it hit me, my eyes widening in an echo of horror at the realization. My body. It was my body that betrayed me - my soul might be different, but my body was from here. It needed a heart to be complete, one I’d been reborn with. One provided for me. Heart, soul, and body was what made up a complete being here...and no matter how different my soul was, it wasn’t the same as a heart.  

A heart I no longer had.  

I struggled to breathe, nonexistent panic strangling me in the echoes of the horror and terror I’d once been able to feel but couldn’t, not anymore. I was a Nobody. That Heartless - my Heartless - it had run off somewhere, I didn’t know where, and-

Wait. Sora’s Heartless, for all that it was a Shadow, had just wanted to be with his friends. What if...what if Death Knell wanted the same?

I really hoped so, because the thought of Death Knell going after them made me sick - but at the same time, it didn’t. I didn’t feel anything. The idea of it was sickening but I couldn’t actually care and I keened in distress I couldn’t truly feel but almost did because these were my siblings-!

“I see you have begun to realize your true situation here.” I heard Saix say, and I turned my head to see him step out of a Corridor of Darkness in front of the cell. “Terrifying, isn’t it? Or it would be, if you could feel it. Now, you’re just like us - unable to feel a single shred of emotion, while fully remembering what it was like…” 

I snarled at him. “Only temporarily. I’m not stupid - I know I’ll grow it back!” I- The Silver Chair. Mantras. I couldn’t trust myself like this, couldn’t trust myself not to veer off into strange mental territory. I know they’d slacked off on it but in The Silver Chair Eustace and Jill had been given a mantra to repeat and remember by Aslan. Of important information I could only remember bits and pieces of for their journey. I needed to do the same - a repeat of what I could not compromise on, what I could not afford to forget. An anchor in a storm. 

Okay. Okay. Remember that you care, Riku. Remember that your friends’ and family’s safety is paramount. Anything that puts them in harm’s way is bad. 

Even if it doesn’t seem like it matters.  

Saix just raised an eyebrow, an unimpressed expression on his face. “Delude yourself all you like. You’ll soon realize the truth.”

And with that, he snapped to vanish the bars, before motioning me forward. Scowling, I reluctantly followed, and he led me back into the Heartless room.

“Now, enough with your false preconceptions. You are a Nobody now, and the only way to return to being a complete being again is to gather hearts for us.” Saix told me. I just gave him a wan look. Saix snapped his fingers in response, and Heartless appeared in the room again.

“This time, things will be different.” Saix said, the Heartless strangely not surging forward after me like they had before. I gave him a quizzical look. “There will be no rest until you drop this futile resistance and start defeating Heartless with your keyblade.”

Before I could even respond to that, he snapped his fingers, and the Heartless surged forward. Gritting my teeth, I lunged forward, landing on all fours before pouncing on the nearest Heartless. I slammed it into the ground, the two of us tussling before my teeth ended the problem. 

I leapt forward from the dark smoke of its demise, grabbing hold of a lantern Heartless between my teeth. I dodged back from a Fire one of the others shot at me, Heartless still in my mouth, before I shook it like a dog.

I was really getting the hang of fighting like this. All this practice was paying off. 

I may not have a heart, not right now, but just like I’d guessed back in Castle Oblivion the heart’s light and darkness were in fact reflected in the soul. I still had access to my dark form, and it wasn’t because losing my heart had taken my light with it - Naminé was a Nobody after all, and even before she’d grown a heart she’d had no darkness. Granted she’d had none because Kairi had none for her to inherit, but that was the key word here: inherit.  

We all started out with the same light and darkness we’d had before losing our hearts; not my fault these idiots made the wrong assumptions and let their light dwindle away to nothing. And while normally you can’t just lose one side or the other without some serious issues going on, well, we do in fact have some serious issues going on. Case in point being that we’re kinda lacking in hearts at the moment. Our bodies can’t regulate it, not like the heart can. It doesn’t know what it’s supposed to have, only what it does. 

Even the mana contained by the heart remained in the body when it was lost. Made sense too, otherwise no one in the Organization would’ve been able to cast any spells, dark or otherwise, and I internally snickered at the thought despite not feeling the amusement I should have. 

<Dark Fira!> I cast, blasting a group of Heartless back, before firing off a circle of darkness to take care of the others trying to swarm me. That freed me to race over towards Saix, only for him to summon another wave, the Heartless crashing into me and forcing me back. 

I fought tooth and nail, killing Heartless after Heartless after Heartless as I fought to get to the one bringing them here. Jumping up, I used several Heartless as stepping stones to reach Saix, dodging grasping claws in favor of going straight for the Luna Diviner now that I finally had a clear shot. 

I ducked under Lunatic’s swing, the blade so close I swear it took the tips of my fur with it, and Midnight Blue finally made its appearance as I slashed Saix hip to neck with it. 

“Aargh, you- Blizzaga!” Saix snarled, the point-blank spell slamming into me with all the force of a sledgehammer, knocking me back. “That is enough, Riku! Your enemies are the Heartless - Aeroga!”

I wasn’t expecting Aeroga and that cost me. The powerful winds threw me around before launching me back into the crowd of Heartless. Sensing weakness, they pounced, and it was once again teeth against a horde of shadow. But for every monster I killed, Saix simply summoned more, and exhaustion, both physical and magical, was beginning to creep into my limbs. 

<Dark. Blizzard!> I panted, slinging the large chunk of black ice at the Soldier in front of me, before following it up by jumping on it and tearing it to pieces with my teeth. Another Heartless slammed a large fist into me, and I cried out as I staggered to the side, firing off a ring of darkness to buy myself the time to recuperate. My reactions were becoming more and more sluggish, and soon, the Heartless were getting in more hits than I was.

Black spots began swimming in my vision, and I tried to blink them away, jumping back from a Hammer Frame trying to turn me into a pancake before tearing right through it. Panting, I was too slow to dodge a faster Heartless scoring its claws down my side, or the Large Body from running me over like a demented wrecking ball. I hit the floor, the breath whooshing out of my body, and I looked up at the certain death looming over me, wheezing and gasping for air and unable to move-!

And then, they were gone. Saix walked into my field of vision, disapproval written all over his face, and gave me a disparaging look.

“Next time, there will be no mercy.” he said warningly, and I knew he meant it. “If you will not submit, I am sure we can get better results from Sora, your replica, or Kairi.”

No. I stared at him in a mimicry of horror - the horror I should be feeling at the idea of them kidnapping and imprisoning my siblings, because right now I, I…

Then the rest of what he’d said registered in my brain, and everything else promptly went right out the window because what?!

<Kairi has a keyblade?!> I gaped at Saix, slack-jawed. Already?!

“Yes. I do not care to know the details, but according to Xigbar she materialized one for the first time not long after he brought you here.” He told me, which...dang. I wasn’t expecting that - great job, Kairi. “Now, will you cooperate, or not?” Saix continued, voice dangerously mild, and I... 

Remember that you care. Remember that your friends’ and family’s safety is paramount. 

Anything that puts them in harm’s way is bad.  

I bowed my head in defeat, ears flat against my skull. <Alright. You win.> I said quietly. At least...at least I had set them back a little over a week. I was hoping that had been enough. It had to be enough, even with Kairi functionally replacing me out there. 

Sora. Branwen. Kairi. Donald. Goofy. Mickey. Don’t waste this time I’ve bought you. 

“I see you understand your position now.” Saix stated. I drew my darkness back within me, and stood up on two legs again, if a bit shakily. And then staggered over to the side, nearly falling over if Saix hadn’t caught me. I looked up at him, surprised.

“Don’t get any ideas. It would hardly serve us if you managed to get yourself killed now that you are cooperating.” he said derisively, before marching me back over to the cell. He made sure to keep me supported, though, and I wondered how much of that was because he actually cared, somewhere deep inside. He could have had lesser Nobodies cart me off, after all.

Once I was back inside and Saix had restored the bars, he turned on his heel and left, leaving me alone with nothing but my Berserker guards for company. I sat back, exhausted. I should really get some rest, I really should, but I didn’t want to sleep. Not yet - I was too keyed up for that. Raising my hand, a thought from earlier suddenly came to mind.

Dark Thunder. I still hadn’t managed to pull off that spell, despite the fact that Branwen had gotten it within minutes. There was some kind of mental block, something stopping me from understanding, and no matter how many times Branwen tried to explain it nothing worked.

Then again, ‘it’s just dark lightning, Riku’ was pretty useless as far as explanations went. I’d tried picturing dark lightning, black light, purple lightning, sith lightning even, but no dice. Nothing worked. I’d thought of every kind of black light imaginable, and nothing was freaking working!

I frowned. Okay, think. Dark Fire was flames of darkness, Dark Blizzard was black ice, and Dark Aero was winds of darkness. Each spell a dark reflection of what it was in the light; I could get the flames of Dark Fire to work, so what was making Dark Thunder so impossible to grasp?

Okay, Dark Fire. That was fire: nether, flames, heat. And Dark Thunder, that should be lightning, electricity, light. So...what was it that I was missing?

I groaned. Okay, maybe sleep was the better idea here. I was just going in circles with this. Hopefully I’d have a better idea in the morning. I shifted forms before lying down and curling up, and I was so exhausted I fell asleep even with the lights on.

~*~

“Wakey wakey, Riku!” a gleeful voice taunted, and I let out a quiet growl, peeling my eyes open to give Xigbar a baleful glare despite the void of emotion in my mind. 

<What?> I said flatly, only for my stomach to rumble as I smelled food. My darkness retreated back into my heart as my mouth watered, eyes fixed on the meal in front of me. 

“Breakfast time! I gotta say, if I’d known all it took to get you to cave was to threaten your little friends, I would’ve led with that when I first dragged you here. Would’ve saved me a lot of trouble.” Xigbar said, dematerializing the bars before sliding the plate of food inside. Something I snatched up and began tucking neatly into. It was nice to have food again; I was hungry. As soon as I was done, I slid it back over to Xigbar, who simply reached in and grabbed it before passing it over to a Dusk. I stood, leaving the cell and following Xigbar over to the Heartless room. I knew the drill by now.

I startled when I saw Xemnas already waiting for me in there, and was even more confused when Xigbar came into the room behind me, shutting the door behind him. It had always just been one of them watching, so what changed?

“Now. Show me the rage of the keyblade. Show me how much you desire to become whole again.” Xemnas said, before making the same gesture as before, filling the room with Heartless. I sighed, summoning Midnight Blue before going in on the attack. I cut through a Soldier Heartless, followed by several of the stupid floating lanterns, and then a Bag ‘O Jewels. My focus narrowed to the Heartless around me, Nobodies forgotten in the heat of battle.

“Reflect!” I cast, blocking the multiple Blizzards shot at me, before returning the favor by firing off a ring of darkness, cutting through the weaker Heartless. It made sense that the Organization wanted me taking out the relatively small fry; the less time I spent taking down a Heartless, the more hearts they could get from me.

I yelped as my moment of inattention cost me and a trio of Hook Bats got the hooked tails they were named for under my armpits, yanking me off my feet. Thinking quickly, I reversed my grip on Midnight Blue and sliced through them, landing safely back onto the floor.

A Hammer Frame and a Large Body tried tag-teaming me next, and when I jumped back as I fired a dark Skyward Strike at them, a whole troop of Powerwilds decided to jump me - including one that decided to latch right onto my face.

“Hey!” I yelled, grabbing it and throwing it from me, as I couldn’t use Midnight Blue close up like this, but they were digging into my back and sides and screeching and I needed to get them off and now. I switched forms, calling out my darkness to cover me like a second skin, and in the split second where the baffled Powerwilds were wondering where my shirt and jacket went I was on them with Midnight Blue. 

Bandit Heartless, Bad Dogs (hilarious I know), Gearbits, Hammer Frames, every kind of basic lantern Heartless available, and more; the swarm was never-ending. I yelped as two Large Bodies collided with me, squashing me between their bulk, and I took them down just in time for a third to slam into my side, sending me flying into the wall not all that far from where the two other Nobodies stood. I lay there on my back for a second, stunned, before scrambling to my feet and charging back into the fray. 

Except, then they just...disappeared. Heck, all of the Heartless had disappeared. Baffled, I turned to face Xemnas and Xigbar, who were staring at me with identical looks of horror.

What?

“You...that…” Xigbar said, pointing at me, and I automatically looked down to see what he was pointing at, except there was nothing out of the ordinary? Xigbar made another gesture, which just confused me more. 

“Roll over.” Xemnas commanded, and excuse me?! “On your back. Do it. Now.”

A snarl tore through the air as I bared my teeth at the Nobody, looking between him and Xigbar. I didn’t care that I couldn’t feel the offense I should be feeling, I wasn’t a dog!

“Roll over before I knock you over.” Xigbar snapped, and you know what? Fine. I rolled over onto my back, exposing my- oh. 

My death scar. When I was standing up you could see the double lines reaching up toward my collarbone, but that in and of itself wasn’t alarming. But, if I was flat on my back or sitting down…you could see it. A scar that could not be an accident. Straight, purposeful lines forming a letter on my skin, cut into white fur. 

The sight of the two Nobodies choking in horror would’ve made my day if I could feel the petty satisfaction I should be getting from this. Except, they didn’t...stop? Why weren’t they stopping?

<What?> I demanded, rolling back to my feet. Xemnas in particular looked like he was about to be sick, which was just surreal because this was Xemnas I was talking about. The man who eschewed all emotion.

“You- that kind of scar only belongs on dead things.” Xigbar hissed, storming up to me as I flattened my ears against my skull, teeth bared in warning because I could and would bite. He stopped, clenching his fists and looking like he desperately wanted to kill something. 

And they say they can’t feel anything.

<What do you care?> I asked, bewildered. Hadn’t they already done this to people before? In their experiments. Cut them open to see what-

Xigbar looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel. “Kid, do you know what the odds were of you even surviving that?”

I looked at him, baffled. The odds of surviving-? Oh. Ohhhh. Oh oh oh. This…this was still Kingdom Hearts. Their experiments wouldn’t have been medical horror, even those not on the heart. This was half Disney, it couldn’t. Their depravity could only go so far. So this? Seeing the thin lines of my death scar on a living, breathing teenager? Lines that could only come from an autopsy procedure? A procedure that opened up the entire torso of a person to open air, the front of their ribcage cut and set aside and their internal organs readily visible to be poked and prodded at? 

And it was only an autopsy when it was done on dead bodies. When done on the living…

It was a vivisection. And the odds of surviving one was this shy of zilch. No wonder they were wigging out. 

I winced. It really honestly wasn’t what it looked like, but what other conclusion could they come to? <I know, I’m fine.> 

“You are NOT fine-!”

<Look, all of my organs are in one piece. Ribcage is fine too. No lasting damage.> I said helplessly, using the only words I could. Not when they wouldn’t believe me if I insisted it wasn’t what it looked like. 

“No lasting-?!” 

“Who did this?” Xemnas demanded, and huh, Xigbar’s voice had actually cracked there, at least until Xemnas cut him off. 

<Doesn’t matter, they’re gone now.> I said, which was entirely true. Just not in the way they thought it was. 

“Good.” Xemnas said flatly, eyes narrowed. He and Xigbar looked like they wanted to shred the doctors who’d performed the autopsy to bloody ribbons. Which was perfectly understandable, given the lack of context. I’d be the same way in their shoes.

To my surprise, the Nobodies didn’t summon more Heartless and get back down to business. Instead Xigbar stormed out of the room while Xemnas paused at the door, looking expectant. 

“Come.”

<Uh, okay?> Still a little thrown from it all, I followed Xemnas back to the cell, where he proceeded to lock me in. He gave me an unreadable look before summoning a pair of Sorcerer Nobodies to guard my cell and leaving through a Corridor of Darkness.

Well. So that happened. I sighed, sitting down on the floor. That was…something else, that was for sure. My darkness receded into my heart, leaving me human again, scar covered up under my clothes. Now what? I hadn’t exactly been killing Heartless for very long, not today. And judging by Xemnas and Xigbar’s reactions I highly doubted that was going to change anytime soon. 

Well, might as well get back to the exercise in frustration that was the stupid Dark Thunder spell. That at least would keep me busy - emotionless or not boredom was still the bane of anyone’s existence. And like confusion, boredom wasn’t an emotion. 

As for Dark Thunder, maybe I was thinking about it all wrong. It was a different spell entirely from Dark Fire, so maybe I shouldn’t be comparing the two.

I frowned. Fire was hot, Blizzard was hail, Thunder was electricity, and Aero was a dance to the tempo. Dark Fire was magical flames, Dark Blizzard was black-ice-on-roads, and Dark Aero was dark-winds-streaming-in-a-dance.

Both Dark Fire and Dark Aero were associated with dark versions of themselves. Even black ice was technically just dark ice, since actual black ice was actually a thin layer of transparent ice on the road.

So, dark electricity? Dark lightning? But it was still light in the e-

My eyes widened in realization. Light. I really was thinking about it all wrong - I thought of Dark Fire like a dark, magical flame, which was heat. Not light. Light wasn’t going to do anything for dark spells.

I facepalmed - not out of embarrassment, but sheer habit. “I’m such a freaking idiot.” I groaned, still half-expecting the surge of emotion to hit me anyway. 

Electricity wasn’t automatically light, it was electricity. Power, magnetism, energy. What I needed to think of was dark energy. I raised my hand, palm up, my magic welling up from the void where my heart had been. 

“Dark Thunder.”

And finally, finally, the dark electricity came to my call, crackling across my hand. And my reward? The same, unchanging hollow feeling in my chest instead of the excitement and happiness I should be feeling at finally being able to cast this spell. 

Ugh, this was freaky. Even if it couldn’t actually freak me out. 

But more importantly, I finally, finally had this down. Dark energy, that’s what I’d been missing. I really had been going about this wrong the whole time - it wasn’t dark light, because that was still light, and this was a dark spell.

Energy. I felt like facepalming again for missing something so blatantly obvious in hindsight. Branwen was never gonna let me hear the end of it. I blew my bangs out of my face, before leaning backward to lie down on the floor, splayed out like a starfish on the sand. Seriously, Branwen was going to laugh himself sick when I told him how I finally got it.

Branwen. Mickey. Sora. Donald. Goofy. Kairi. I furrowed my brow at what was becoming an all too terribly familiar lack of emotion at their names. 

Remember that you care, Riku. You. Care. 

So: were they alright? They had to be going crazy knowing I was being held prisoner by the Organization, because there’s no way the Nobodies wouldn't have taunted them with the fact. And…what about Axel? Was he there too? There’s no way everybody wouldn’t have told him about Roxas and Zion and our plans to bring them back, but…

Would he even believe us? I didn’t know. And the thought of it - of Axel actually succeeding in his plot to turn my little brother into a Heartless, for all that he’d failed in canon - didn’t spark a single feeling in me. Not horror, not fear, not anxiety. Nothing. Nothing like it should have been. 

I couldn’t care less. 

Remember that you care.  

Chapter Text

Another day, another mantra. 

Remember that you care. Remember that your friends’ and family’s safety is paramount. Anything that puts them in harm’s way is bad.  

Even if it doesn’t seem like it matters. 

A group of footsteps caught my attention, and I got up from the ground of my cell, brushing off my pants. Hope didn’t rise in my chest, but I couldn’t help but wonder anyway. Was this it? Was this finally over?

“Who’s there?” I called out. 

“Wha- Riku?!” 

“SORA!!” I exclaimed, rushing over to the bars even as my friends engaged - and quickly wiped out - the pair of Snipers guarding my cell. “Sora! Kairi! Donald! Branwen! Goofy! You’re- wait why is my Heartless with you?” I asked, flabbergasted, because yes, that was Death Knell standing right there with them.

“It’s okay, it never attacked us! Or, well, me and Kairi anyway, we had to tell it not to attack the others but it listened when we said no. It listened to anything Kairi and I told it, actually, other than ‘go away’ that is. All Death Knell really wanted was to be with us, just like when I was a Heartless.” Sora finished, and wow did that make me feel dumb. 

“I’m assuming both the markings and the flame practically spelled it out as mine?” I asked, because I had doodled more than one Zelda symbol on my homework before and my siblings knew all of them, even Branwen. My little brother nodded, before shooting a teasing look at Donald.

“We sure recognized it faster than Donald recognized me!”

“Hey! Stop bringing that up!” Donald wailed, but there was no heat to it. He and Sora chuckled at each other, the incident a long-running joke now.

“Anyway, we were wondering how to get to you, but once we got in the castle Death Knell led us right to you.” Kairi explained. I nodded; that made about as much sense as anything. I had to wonder, how sapient was Death Knell? Was it another me somewhere in there, or just a loyal hound?

“Hey, Death Knell, how sapient are you?” I asked aloud. Death Knell simply stared at me. “You another me in there, or just chillin’?” No answer. “Not even a little?” Nothing again. “Guess that answers that.” I hadn’t willingly parted with my heart, not like Sora and Ansem, so I wasn’t all that surprised. Just curious.

Wait. Sapience came from a willing separation - those were the Heartless who kept their minds, who chose what they wanted to do. Mine hadn’t been, so how-??

“Yeah, it’s just been a dog, honestly.” Sora said a little sheepishly, cutting me out of my thoughts. “A really good dog! Your Heartless is great! Just uh, uh…”

I laughed. It wasn’t sincere, but I tried. “I get what you’re saying. Now come on, help me out of here. I’ll show you the room they turned me into a Nobody in so I can recomplete.”

“What? Now?” Branwen asked. I gave him a baffled look.

“Of course now, when else are we gonna get a better time?” I demanded. “Let’s hurry, I want to be back on my feet as soon as I can.”

“If you’re sure…” Donald said uncertainly. I stood back, way back - thank you cell for being ridiculously huge - as my friends materialized their weapons. My eyes zeroed in on Destiny’s Embrace, and I couldn’t help but smile. 

“You really did summon a keyblade. That’s awesome.” I said, because it really was. “How’d that happen anyway? All Saix said was that it happened not long after they dragged me here, and that it was Xigbar who saw it.”

Everyone exchanged looks, smiles breaking out across their faces before they all burst out laughing.

“Oh man, that’s right! Xigbar came over to us, telling us you’d been kidnapped and gloating about it, and then Kairi went up and swung her staff at his face except boom! It was suddenly a keyblade!” Branwen sniggered. I blinked, before laughing uproariously. I couldn't really feel it, not right now, but the idea of it was strong enough to grasp on to. And besides, I wouldn’t be like this much longer, and then it would be hilarious.

“Ohh, that’s just gold.” I chuckled. My friends exchanged grins, before attacking the bars. Even my Heartless joined in on the fun, gnawing at the bars between its toothy maw.

“Why is this not working?!” Donald hissed, the bars seemingly untouched despite the onslaught. I frowned, before another thought occurred to me.

“Death Knell, you can lead them back to where we were split apart, right?” I asked. Death Knell simply tilted its head, before giving a single bark in what I assumed to be confirmation. “Okay, then. Guys, just take me out here.”

“WHAT?!”

“Come on, this isn’t going anywhere, and it’s not like I need to be out of the cage!” I snapped, walking back up to the bars. “Just. You know how this works, guys. Death Knell and I need to die to recomplete anyway. So just…” I paused, right in front of the bars. I took a deep, shuddering breath, before releasing it, throwing my arms wide. “H-hit me with all you’ve got!”

“Riku…” Sora breathed. I gave him a strained smile.

“It’ll be alright, I promise. Death Knell will show you the way, and then you can put, err…” I glanced over at my Heartless. “Put it down, yeah, I guess that would be the right words.” Death Knell let out a bark, but otherwise looked unbothered. It seems we both knew what we needed to do, then. “Try to make it quick, yeah?”

“R-right.” Sora stammered. The place where my heart had once been should have ached, would have ached, had I still had one. I closed my eyes, tense with anticipation. 

“Thundaga!”

“Dark Fira!”

“Aerora!”

Pain, lancing white-hot through my body. I screamed despite myself as the spells crashed into me, being cast on repeat by friends who didn’t want to hurt me. I fell forward, almost smashing my face into the bars, and my friends stopped, worried.

“What are y- don’t stop! Don’t, don’t lemme chicken out! Don’t let me- not now! Do it do it do it do it do it!!” I shrieked frantically, coughing, because I had to do this now, I don’t know if I ever would if I shied away from it because it hurt, so, so much, my entire body trembling at the ordeal. Everyone glanced uneasily at each other, before the barrage of magic resumed. Another scream tore itself from my throat before I managed to get control of my vocal cords, hands clawing uselessly into the ground as agony rocked through my body. 

And then, something inside seemed to break, and I felt the edges of myself beginning to come undone.

“R-Riku?”

“That did it…I think.” I said, grunting with exertion as I managed to roll over onto my back, laying the back of my head against the floor as dark wisps floated up around me. “Wow. That seriously hurt. Good job, guys.” I added, grinning tiredly. Branwen was hugging Kairi from behind, hiding his face in our sister’s hair. Unable to look, I realized. Unable to watch as oblivion called for his twin in a process he knew the truth of, but had never needed to see the aftereffects of for himself. Scared that maybe I wasn’t really coming back. 

“I’ll be fine. Just…don’t go yet? Please?” I asked, voice cracking on the last word. I didn’t, I didn’t want to die alone. Not here. 

Don’t leave me

“Of course. We’re not leaving you to go through this alone.” Branwen said firmly. 

The draining feeling was growing stronger, now, more bits and pieces of me becoming undone. “Thank you, guys. All of you.” I said gratefully, turning my head to face everyone. 

“For what?” Goofy asked.

“For coming for me. For trusting me. For setting me free.” I said, waving a hand weakly. “Any of the above.”

“Of course we came.” Kairi said fiercely. I gave her a weary smile.

“I know. I never doubted.” I reassured her. I looked down at my arms, seeing more wisps peeling away. I was almost gone, now. “I’ll see you guys…on the other side.” I chuckled, closing my eyes. Sora said something, I think, but I couldn’t hear it, not when everything felt like I was submerged underwater.

Hello again, death. Don’t keep me, please. I still have work to do.

And, with my family and friends around me, I slipped back into the dark.

~*~

“Wait, what are you doing here?”

I blinked, startled, suddenly registering the world of sea-and-sky around me. I turned, slightly disbelieving, to see none other than Ven’s Chirithy standing next to me. 

“…What?” I managed, voice raspy and sore. 

“You don’t belong here. You’re not dead, or sleeping. You’re…” Chirithy trailed off, clearly struggling to find words. 

“Weird?” I suggested. Chirithy nodded sharply. 

“Yes, exactly! Wait no I-I didn’t mean it that way-!” Chirithy backpedaled frantically, clutching at her - their? - ears, and I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“No, but I really am.” I said, before looking down at my reflection in the shallow water that covered this place. Unhealthily skinny limbs, sweatpants with a blue sweatshirt, brown hair, and my favorite hat. I was Morgan again. No, that wasn’t right. I’d always been Morgan. “Back out in the real world, I look different from this. This is what I used to be, before…” I trailed off, considering. It was hard to think, here in this space. But hadn’t there been something important there?

“Before?” Chirithy prompted. 

“‘M sorry. It’s hard to think right now.” I said apologetically, rubbing my temples. Wherever it was I was going with that, I’d lost it now. I hated it when that happened. 

“You know, I wonder…” Ven’s Chirithy spoke up, breaking the silence we’d slipped into. “You don’t have a body or a heart, but you’re not just a spirit either. Or if you are, you’re not like any one I’ve seen before.” No, they wouldn’t have. There was no one else like me. A foreign soul, compatible with this reality but not the same. “Either way, something’s still tying you to the world of the living.” 

“Yeah, I’m recompleting. Or, I should be.” I said, frowning. “Last I checked, recompletion didn’t dump you in the Final World.” 

“Recompletion?” Chirithy asked. 

“Yeah. When someone’s heart is separated from their body, they- err, how much do you know about Nobodies?” I questioned. Chirithy drooped. 

“More than enough.” They said despondently. “It’s a terrible state to be condemned to. To have lost your heart, forever remaining only as an echo of the person you once were.”

“That’s not actually true.” I said, and Chirithy’s head snapped up to meet my eyes with a startled gasp, their own wide in shock. “When both Nobody and Heartless die, the person in question recompletes. They reappear where they lost their heart, whole and human again.”

“It’s not forever?” Chirithy half-whispered, something desperate and vulnerable in their voice. “It can be fixed?”

“It can be fixed. Either by recompletion or regrowing your heart, ‘cause your body knows what it’s missing and it works to fix it ASAP.” I told them with a smile. It slid off my face, though, at the sight around me. The sea-and-sky of the Final World. “I still shouldn’t be here though.” Why was I here? Did something go wrong? Was I…actually dying for real? 

The idea didn’t bother me as much as it should.

“It looks like it’s just a temporary visit. A weird one, but still just a visit.” Chirithy mused, and I let out a little sigh of relief. 

“That’s good.” I said. Thought hazily slipped away, stagnating in this space. At least until Chirithy spoke up again, snapping me back into alertness. 

“What do you look like, out in the real world?” They asked, and I hummed, thinking back on it. 

“Um, well, I have silver hair. And teal eyes.” I said, trying to remember. Why was it so hard to think? “My name is Riku there.” My form flickered; one minute I was Morgan, and the next I was Riku. Different lives, different faces, but still me. Even if Riku already existed. 

“Your true face…what kind of…face is it? I wonder…the face under the mask…is that…your true face?”

Blergh. Thank you, brain, for that particular line from the moon children in Majora’s Mask. One of ‘em anyway, don’t remember which one. I mean I know it’s stuck with me ever since the first time I played it but come on. 

“Silver hair…maybe you’re related…” Chirithy mumbled, snapping me out of…wherever my mind just went (something about a mask?) and I gave them a confused look. 

“What?” Chirithy shook their head. 

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” They insisted, and though I didn’t like it - it felt important, somehow, even if I couldn’t place why - I let the matter drop. 

“Alright. If you say so.” I said dubiously. It was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open; why was I so sleepy?

“It looks like you’re getting called back.” Chirithy said, and I hummed again in response. 

“I hope we meet again.” I said honestly. Chirithy frantically shook their head, waving their tiny arms around in a panic. 

“I don’t!! People end up in the Final World when they can’t move on after their hearts and bodies were destroyed together. I don’t want you to be stuck here.” They said. 

“No, I mean in the real world. With Ven.” I murmured, the drowsiness only growing stronger now. I think Chirithy yelped? It was getting harder to focus. 

“You know Ven?!”

“Mm-hmm. Sort of. He misses you, you know?” I continued, my eyes sliding closed of their own accord. “Just because he can’t remember doesn’t mean his heart doesn’t ache something fierce at the loss.” It was cruel, to stay away. 

Chirithy said something, I think. I didn’t catch it. 

“Ven’s already lost so much…wouldn’t it be nice if he got something back for once?” I mused. “When he wakes up again, after everything…I hope you’ll go to him. He needs you.”

“…ere…en is…how…?”

“G’night, Chirithy.” I slurred sleepily, already falling backward into oblivion. “See you after Three.”

I slept. 

~*~

I groaned. Voices suddenly exploded in my ears, making me cry out in pain as I turned away. Everything immediately quieted down, and I let out a sigh of relief.

“Riku?” Riku? I…no, that’s right, I’m Riku.

“Did anyone…get the number…of that truck?” I managed, peeling my eyes open. Someone - Branwen - choked out a laugh, and then everyone was surrounding me, crowding around with teary eyes.

“Truck? There was no truck!” Donald said, looking at me like I’d grown an extra head. “Did you forget what happened?”

“No, I…I remember.” I started to try to push myself upright, but my limbs betrayed me, and I slipped right back down to the ground. “Ergh. Guess I’m not…standing for a bit, then.”

“Are you okay?” Sora asked, anxiety practically vibrating off every part of his body. I gave him a small smile.

“Better than okay. Just…feel like I got hit by a bus. On steroids.” I explained, every part of me aching. I knew from Dream Drop Distance that recompleting had done a number on people, but blergh, I did not want to know this from experience.

“Do you know where you are?” Goofy asked. I nodded.

“Yeah. They tore me heart from body here.” I answered without even needing to look, trying to push myself into a sitting position again. Sora, Branwen, and Kairi hovered nervously, but this time, I managed to find the strength to sit up.

“Don’t push yourself, Riku.” Kairi fretted. I made a hum of acknowledgement.

“‘M taking it slow.” I promised her, before it dawned on me. “Where’s Mickey?” Shouldn’t he be here?

“He split up from us after we defeated all the Heartless coming for the city in Hollow Bastion, ah-hyuck.” Goofy explained. 

“All of them?” I asked, before whistling. “Dang.”

“Yeah, we were told after there were apparently a thousand of them.” Branwen informed me, and yeah, I knew that intellectually, but having seen the army myself? 

“Wooow.” I couldn’t help but say. “Great job you guys.”

“We had help from the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, and other people from the city who could fight.” Sora said, embarrassed. 

“Still a great job.” I insisted. Now that I felt less dizzy, I held up my hands in silent question, Branwen and Kairi pulling me to my feet. I stood, shaky as a newborn fawn, trying to find my balance again.

“Gawrsh, I didn’t know recompleting took this much out o’ ya.” Goofy said, looking at me in clear concern.

“I mean, I did kinda just die.” I pointed out, to which everyone winced. “Guys, it’s fine, I’m fine. Just…gimme a minute. I’m almost there I think.” Slowly, carefully, I let go of my siblings’ hands, standing steady on my own feet. “Right. Let’s get moving. They’ve been making me kill Heartless day in and day out, we need to stop them as soon as we can.”

“Of course.” Donald nodded, before pointing his staff at me?? “And you’re stayin’ in the back! No complaining, you can barely stand right now!”

I blinked, before laughing - and what an amazing rush it was, that I could feel again. “You’re not getting any complaints from me, Donald. I’ll get better as we go but there’s no time to baby me, not right now.”

“Then let’s go.” Kairi said, eyes hard as steel. We turned, exiting the room before running through the hallways, climbing ever higher. I was still a lot shakier than I’d like to be but I was mobile at least now. I could fight, probably. I’d have to either way.

I had to admit though, I did feel vaguely cheated. Don’t get me wrong, I was beyond thrilled that everyone was here, but…I’d been looking forward to Atlantica, dangit. 

We barged into the room I recognized as Xigbar’s boss room, the Nobody nowhere in sight - for now, anyway. I started to slow, but no one else did, having no reason to expect there to be something to stop here for. At least, until they realized I wasn’t keeping up.

“Riku? Are you okay?” Goofy asked as everyone came to a stop, turning around to face me as I quickly scrambled over to catch up.

“Yep, just fine, let’s keep moving.” I said, trying to usher us onward.

“But you’re-” A Corridor of Darkness opening cut Branwen off, Xigbar stepping outside of it with a wide grin on his face.

“Well well, looks like a little jailbreak’s happened.” he said, his eyes scanning over our group as he did so. “You’re not looking too hot though. Bet getting out of that cage was harder than you thought.” he chuckled, a malicious glint in his eye.

“I mean, I did die.” I said, very much getting a kick out of the look on his face at that. “That’s just how recompletion works though.”

“Recom- you mean to say you're whole again?” Xigbar said incredulously, before scoffing. “As if! You can’t just get your heart back, kid, and especially not by dying. That’s not how this works. I can appreciate the commitment to the bit, but it’s gotta end sometime.”

“Why would we bother lying about it when you’re about to find out for yourself?” I pointed out, Midnight Blue coming to my hand. “Recompleting feels like getting hit by a truck, by the way. Just so you know for when it’s your turn.” I added cheekily.

“You- ah, whatever.” Xigbar sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What a headache. Fine, fine, play your little game of make-believe. I suppose it’s one way to cope without having a heart. Not that you’ll be needing to for very long.” An absolute barrage of laser bullets came from Xigbar’s arrowguns at that, forcing our entire group to scatter. 

“I know this won’t kill him but man is it gonna feel good.” Kairi growled, raising Destiny’s Embrace and raining stars down on Xigbar’s position. He teleported, because Xigbar, clicking his two arrowguns together and sighting them down like a sniper’s oh frick-!

“Got you now!” Xigbar grinned, sniping Donald from midair with a sniper rifle that managed to look even more like something straight out of Halo than his weapons already did, even as the poor duck tried hitting him with a Thundaga. I threw a light Skyward Strike at the Nobody, forcing him to teleport away, still holding his sniper rifle dangit.

“Owww-aahaahhaa!” Goofy yelped, Xigbar sniping him this time. He caught the second shot on his shield, and the third, before Xigbar moved on to other targets - namely me. Ow. 

“How do we get him to stop that?” Goofy asked, just barely getting in front of Branwen in time to take the next shot on his shield rather than my twin’s body.

“Put up cover! Dark Blizzard!” I cast, the black ice giving us slightly more opaque cover than the regular, or at least that was my thinking. But what it did do was put things on the battlefield that we could take cover behind while Xigbar was shooting at us.

“Oh come on, really, migraine brat?” Xigbar complained, and migraine? Ohhh? “Clever little sneak, see how you like this.” ‘This’ being Xigbar abruptly teleporting into the field, using spatial manipulation to hold himself upside-down in the air while he launched a barrage of laser bullets at us. 

This new angle let him shoot even behind our improvised barricades, but we didn’t need them as that anymore - not as Sora used one as a stepping stool to leap high enough to reach Xigbar in the air and slam the Kingdom Key into arrowguns he only barely got up in time to block. Kairi and Goofy came at him from behind, and Xigbar reflexively teleported halfway across the impromptu arena. His weapons spat out a hail of laser fire, forcing us to scatter back behind our Blizzard barricades.

“Dark Fira!” Branwen shouted, returning fire with Fire as he launched his spell directly at Xigbar’s face. He teleported, obviously, only to get stars rained down on his head in his new location from Kairi’s staff. I threw out a light Skyward Strike, but he was already teleporting away.

“Spread out! He can’t get all of us at once!” Sora ordered, and we did just that, ducking back behind our barricades. Already the very first of them were starting to disappear - attacks that landed were one thing, but unless it got melted by a Fire Blizzard magic didn’t stay on the ground forever. Just a couple minutes for the basic version, longer for the others. But we didn’t need forever. And in a fight, a couple of minutes could last an eternity. 

“Cure.” I cast, healing up the damage I’d taken so far in the fight. Right, okay, time to-

I let out a cry of pain as a laser bullet slammed into my back, harder than the ones I’d been hit by before. How the frick- wait, that noise like hit glass - he was bouncing the thing between distortions of spacial magic to get me even behind the improvised barrier! How the heck did I forget he did this?!  

I kicked off from my Blizzard barricade, launching myself back even as a second shot slammed into the spot where I’d been. Blue and black and bigger than normal, no wonder that hit had hurt so much. He’d been charging it up.

And that’s about when Xigbar decided it was time to turn the battlefield into a Touhou Bullet Hell. Colorful laser fire flew everywhere, bouncing between distortions as Xigbar laughed maniacally. I growled, dodging out of the way before swinging out on instinct to intercept the third blue power shot aimed at me - only to accidentally send it flying off-course. Right, that was a thing, it’s what we were supposed to be doing actually.

“Hit them back at him!” I hollered. Which was easier said than done, honestly - unlike in the game, these things didn’t home back in on Xigbar. Why would they, they were just bullets after all. Not a mechanic. “Or at least out of the way!” I added after the third failed attempt. That was just embarrassing.

“Hiya!” Goofy shouted, actually reflecting his shot back at the man. Xigbar grunted as his own power strike hit home, before scowling and teleporting again.

“I really wish he’d stop doing that!” Branwen groaned, before yelping as he was forced to dodge a second Touhou Bullet Hell round. I gritted my teeth - seriously, these lasers were flying everywhere, what the heck!

Xigbar’s response to that was to throw back his head and laugh. “You really shouldn’t have betray-”

“Firaga!” This time Donald’s attack connected, the duck having taken the opportunity of Xigbar holding still long enough to open his mouth and blab to hit him. I snickered. Ha. Evidently this offended Xigbar as he then turned his rain of laser fire on me.

“Reflect!” I cast, just barely catching that in time. “Thundara!”

“Aera!” 

Xigbar just barely got out of the way of Kairi’s and my spells, only to yelp in pain as Goofy kicked off from the ground and slammed his shield into the side of the Nobody’s head. Spreading out was really working wonders; there was nowhere for him to go where he wouldn’t get hit. That was definitely one good thing about there being six of us instead of three!

Spellfire and laser bullets flew through the air, filling my vision with color and explosions and way too many things to have to dodge. I could already tell friendly fire was a problem; I was sticking at range thank you. Plus Xigbar would probably teleport before I hit him anyway. Wait was he-?

Xigbar went sailing through the air, hit by something I hadn’t seen through all the crap being thrown around. He bounced off the floor; once, twice, and then Kairi slammed her keyblade down so hard on his head the guy was probably seeing stars. Another teleport, Xigbar holding up an arrowgun aimed directly at her with a shaking hand. At least until his leg buckled, sending him crashing to his knees. He looked furious, even as wisps of darkness began peeling away from him.

“I hope you hit a wall trying to get up after recompletion.” Branwen grumbled, giving Xigbar a glare even as he dematerialized his keyblade. 

“Or the floor.” Sora suggested. 

“I almost hit the floor.” I griped, my own weapon disappearing with the rest of them. 

Xigbar scoffed weakly. “You’re really gonna keep up your little game of make-believe in front of a dying man?”

“Oh for- you feel like your edges are coming undone and you’re draining away.” I retorted, a look of genuine shock flashing across Xigbar’s face at the words - or rather, the unerringly accurate description. “It’ll pull you under, like you’ve been submerged underwater, and when you open your eyes again you’ll be back to where you lost your heart. Recompleted. And feeling like you got hit by a bus, but you know.” I shrugged, a wry twist to my lips. “Kinda comes with the territory I guess.”

“Heh.” Xigbar huffed out a laugh, relaxing a little. “You’re describing it right to a T…maybe you really did get your heart back. Won’t that be a strange feeling, after all these years.” he mused. “Existing again.”

“You always have.” I couldn’t help but point out. 

“Aww, how sweet.” Xigbar chuckled, and before I could even formulate a response to that the rest of the wisps were peeling away, and he was gone.

“Guess that’s that.” Donald said, crossing his arms and nodding at the spot where Xigbar had been.

“Yeah. You doing alright, Riku?” Kairi asked me.

“Yeah, I’m feeling better.” I answered honestly.

“Even after getting beaten up?” Sora asked cheekily, and I laughed.

“Even after getting beaten up.” I agreed with a smile. We made for the exit, then, leaving the place where Xigbar had fallen behind.

“Gawrsh, what’s that?” Goofy asked as we emerged onto the walkway leading higher up the walls of the castle, a thin beam of teal light connecting to the artificial Kingdom Hearts from somewhere higher up.

“Don’t know. Let’s hurry.” I said. I knew it was just DiZ trying to help us but it wasn’t like I had a way of sharing that with everyone else. Besides, the sooner we got through Saix, the faster we could stop Xemnas.

That’s when a Corridor of Darkness spawned right between Sora and everyone else, and I realized I’d forgotten Luxord. Completely. 

Nuggets.

Luxord snapped his fingers, a wall of cards encircling us. Knowing what was coming, I grabbed the closest person - who happened to be Branwen - and bodily shoved him outside of the incoming ring before the cards finished closing around us. 

“Jump!” I yelled, before shifting forms and propelling myself off the ground with all the muscle a juvenile wolf had to offer. Only, I found myself falling backward into white before I even cleared the tops of the cards, their circle complete. There was nothing but white, actually, the abrupt sound of a clock’s mechanism ringing in my ears. 

Tick. Tock.

And then the white was parting, cards sliding apart as all of us who’d been captured between the seconds suddenly found ourselves dumped back out in the world.

Uh. 

“What just happened?” Kairi asked, equally as bewildered. Luxord meanwhile was dying on the floor, wisps of darkness billowing up from his form.

“You play the game well.” Luxord chuckled, before turning his head from Sora and Branwen to look at the rest of us. “I suppose you were right. We bet all our cards…on the wrong deck. What a shame.”

“Wait, did we win?” Donald asked. Luxord disappearing into thin air answered that. “I guess we did.”

“No, seriously, what just happened.” Kairi demanded.

“Luxord captured you guys in a bunch of cards - he would’ve gotten me too had Riku not shoved me out of there in time.” Branwen explained. “We had to beat him up to get you back, and he fought weird.”

<I can imagine.> I chuckled, the quick, rumbling growls spilling from my throat as I tried to picture how Luxord’s time gambling boss fight would have translated over into real life and failed.

“Time magic always is.” Sora said, before shaking his head. “Come on! We still have Saix and Xemnas left!” We left the spot where Luxord had been defeated behind; I was still reeling from the jarring sensation of abruptly losing time but I needed to put it aside. Saix and Xemnas were next and neither of those two were going to be fun to fight.

Chapter Text

We crested the stairs, coming up into a large room I didn’t recognize - which also had the lights completely off for some reason. Saix stood before a large, panoramic window, the artificial Kingdom Hearts clearly visible in the sky. 

Saix turned, giving Sora a deep, unfriendly, and distinctly feral grin. “Only you could have made it this far in one piece…Roxas. I see you’ve found Riku. He was quite useful to us, once we got him to cooperate. All it took was a single threat to you all, did you know that?” he added conversationally. 

<They tried to starve me out first.> I interjected, before snickering. <You can imagine how well that worked.> Snickers ran throughout our group, because yeah, there was really only one way that could’ve gone. Saix flicked his wrist, the additional blades of Lunatic snapping out with the motion.

“Do you feel it - the moon’s power?” he asked, and my mouth - or, telepathy I guess? - was moving before I even thought about it.

<Awoo?> I quipped, and everyone completely broke down laughing. I swear I could see a vein in Saix’s temple bulging, he looked this close to losing it. Which might actually be literal, given that from what I remember Saix’s entire fighting style revolved around berserking and the moon.

“Enough games!!” he snapped. “Take one last look at Kingdom Hearts - at what will make you whole - and-”

<I am whole though. I recompleted when my friends broke me out.> I interrupted. 

“You…if I had a heart, this is where I would die of laughter. What a joke.” Saix said, shaking his head. One of my ears flicked back in annoyance. What was something I could do to prove it? I had my heart back, that much was obvious, but-

“Believe it or not, it’s what’s about to happen to you.” Kairi said, stepping forward and brandishing Destiny’s Embrace threateningly. “I’d say no hard feelings, but after what you did to Riku, that would be a lie.” 

“Yeah! So bring it on!” Branwen challenged. And with an unhinged roar, Saix did just that, slamming his weapon down and firing out a cross of four blue flames across the ground in an instant. And then did so a second and third time almost simultaneously, near-filling the room with blue fire and catching several people in the blast.

<Dark Thundara!> I cast, and Branwen’s eyes lit up at the sight.

“It’s about time you figured out how to do that!” he laughed, and I just groaned.

<Yeah yeah, laugh it up.> I grumbled, dodging Saix’s next swing and retaliating with Midnight Blue in return.

“Dark Fira!” Branwen cast, the flames coinciding with Kairi’s falling stars attack to rain down double the pain on Saix’s head. His only response was to growl in agitation before lunging in Branwen’s direction, my twin only just barely catching Lunatic on the hilt of Midnight Blue before crying out as the exploding flames got him where the weapon itself hadn’t.

<Cure!> I cast, throwing the healing spell at Branwen before yelping as I abruptly had to launch myself into the air to avoid Saix going for me this time. <I think he’s going for whoever does something next!> I warned, and took Lunatic to the face for it which OW.

“Cura!” Kairi cast, and I nodded thankfully as I scrambled to my feet, Goofy sliding in and catching Saix’s sword on his shield as what I’d predicted had come true and the man barreled for whoever the last person was to do something.

Which apparently included talking, as even just Donald sniggering while Sora and Kairi were engaging Saix in tandem was enough for the Nobody to set his sights on the mage next.

“Firaga!” Donald cast with a yelp, getting out of the way of the speeding bullet train that was Saix right now. The man had completely lost all rationality and it showed.

Saix roared, leaping up into the air before sending Lunatic spinning down, the blade sending out a shockwave of energy the moment it hit the floor. Saix landed right behind it, grabbing Lunatic and swinging out toward anyone unlucky enough to have been caught in the blast: aka Kairi, Branwen, and I. 

I went flying, crashing into the wall and losing my grip on Midnight Blue. I didn’t even think when I saw Saix bearing down on Branwen where my twin was wheezing on the floor - I charged, opening my jaws wide and clamping down on the Nobody's arm with all the bite force a juvenile wolf could muster.

My teeth jarred as they hit bone, Saix bellowing in pain as he swung his arm around in an instinctual motion to get me off and only making his bite wound worse as I refused to let go. Branwen scrambled to his feet even as Goofy charged in, slamming his shield against Saix’s face so hard the Nobody actually collapsed onto the ground. He was still very much awake and angry but we got in a lot of hits before he managed to scramble back to his feet, warding us off with wide swings of Lunatic.

That’s when Saix began spinning, slamming Lunatic down on the ground over and over like a demented water wheel as he moved, sending out shockwave after shockwave of energy in near-simultatious blasts. There was a lot of screaming as everyone scrambled to get out of the way, and the moment Saix’s momentum ran out and he took a moment to breathe I was on him. Midnight Blue met Lunatic as the man pressed down, and I took a moment to be grateful I was on all fours bracing against his sword - if I thought Lexaeus had hit like a truck Saix was infinitely worse.

Suddenly the pressure lifted, Saix staggering back and wheezing from where he’d just taken the Kingdom Key to the gut. He kicked Sora aside before dodging a dark Skyward Strike riiiiight into Kairi’s dome of light attack. Ouch, that looked like it hurt. Especially when Donald added insult to injury with a back to back Thundaga.

Saix stumbled back a second time, raising a hand to his temple. He lowered it, some level of rationality returned, before Lunatic dropped from his other hand, landing with a clatter on the floor.

“...Is it over?” Goofy asked. A good question as Saix had elected to ignore everything in favor of taking a few steps closer to the window, hand on his side over one particularly nasty hit he’d gotten from someone who wasn’t me.

“Why…” Saix grunted. “Kingdom Hearts…where is my heart?” he asked, an undercurrent of agony in his voice as he reached toward the unnatural moon, before his fingers curled inward almost in spite of themselves. “Or…did we never really…need it after all?”

A flare of darkness, black wisps dispersing his form, and Saix was gone. Soon to be Isa again, at least until he got yoinked by Xehanort and got re-Nobodied and re-Norted. Poor guy. I was pretty sure that wasn’t willing, either. Though really, it was hard to reconcile ‘Saix’ with ‘poor guy’ right now given that my head was still ringing from that last hit he’d gotten off on me.

<Cura.> I breathed, getting rid of the last of that pain - at least until Xemnas gave me some new ouchies to worry about. I let my darkness recede into my heart, standing up on two feet again. DiZ was next, and depending on what went on there I might need my hands. “Alright. Further in and further up.”

~*~

“...always the same.” I heard DiZ saying as we were rushing up the ramps that had for now replaced the stairs we’d been climbing. “I try to wrap my mind around things my heart already knows, only to fail. Had it not been for Riku hammering the truth over and over again into my head, I shudder to think where my heart would be now.”

“DiZ!” I cried out, the man’s head snapping from Mickey to me in shock. “Got my heart back!”

“You- what?” DiZ gaped. 

“They kidnapped me and turned me into a Nobody, my friends helped me recomplete and now I’m all good again.” I said, before shooting him a smirk, absolutely rubbing it in the despicable man’s face. “See! Told ya that’s how these things worked!”

“No, I know that first part, but-” DiZ cut himself off, before laughing helplessly. “You see, my old friend? Even now, the truth continues to astound me. All my years of research amounted to nothing, compared to that one summer’s worth of learning." The machine crackling cut anything else he might’ve said on the matter short, arcs of electricity running up and down the thing. 

“Ansem! The machine!” Mickey cried out.

“All the more proof that hearts cannot be contained by data.” DiZ said, gritting his teeth, before turning to us, then. “Run! It’s going to self-destruct, and anything could happen!”

“But-!” Mickey protested, only for DiZ to shake his head.

“My heart is telling me what I must do. Please allow me to do what it says!” DiZ begged.

“No!”

“He’s made up his mind - we need to move!” I said urgently, grabbing Mickey by the shoulder. “Come on!”

And that, of course, is when Xemnas decided to show his face.

“I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts.” he mused, and a wave of pure fury crashed over me at the sight of him. It caught me off guard, actually, the depth of that emotion. “And look. Here you all are. How convenient for me.” he added, before his eyes met mine. A frown came over his face. “You…that look in your eyes. That rage…that is the rage of someone with a heart. How, you…?” Oh wow. Xemnas was actually the one to put it together. Xemnas. The guy who legitimately couldn’t remember what it was like to feel emotion in the first place. Though he did still remember his past as Apprentice Xehanort…hmm. 

“That’s right. Riku’s recompleteted - he’s not a Nobody anymore.” Sora said, drawing my attention back to the confrontation at hand. I couldn’t help it - I laughed. Like full-on, belly laughed, because that Blue Screen of Death expression on Xemnas’s face was priceless.

“What did I tell you about recompletion?” I said giddily. Xemnas continued to stare blankly. I think I broke him. Good. 

“Ansem the Wise.” Xemnas said after a moment, refocusing his attention on something his brain did understand. “You look pathetic.”

“Not as pathetic as you when you realized Riku had his heart back.” Branwen snarked, and I couldn’t help the snort that came out of my mouth even if I tried. Xemnas shot Branwen a dark glare for that, one that had me stepping protectively closer to my twin.

“Have your laugh if you must, Xemnas. I deserve as much for failing to see you for the fool you are.” DiZ said bitterly.

“Students do take after their teachers.” Xemnas retorted, and again, my mouth was moving before I even thought about it.

“So you admit you’re a fool then?” Xemnas’s glare could have split rock, especially when DiZ laughed.

“Who is the bigger fool, then - me, or the man without whom none of this would have happened?” Xemnas asked acerbly. “You are the source of all Heartless-”

“Emblem ones anyway.” Branwen muttered. Xemnas elected to ignore him. 

“-and it was your research that inspired me to go further than you ever dared.” 

“I admit…my disregard has brought chaos to more worlds than one.” DiZ replied.

“More than one?” Xemnas asked incredulously. “Try all!” DiZ gritted his teeth.

“But what were YOU seeking?” he demanded. “You erased me from the world, only to take my name, and continue research better left forgotten. Is this-” here DiZ swept out an arm, indicating the false Kingdom Hearts that hung lowly in the sky. “-the answer you’ve been looking for? Or was it this?” he added, pointing over in my direction.

“All that and more.” Xemnas replied. “I’m carrying on what you yourself began, and I’m creating a brand new world, one heart at a time. I thought you’d praise me-” here Xemnas shrugged. “-but all you ever do is hold me back. I understand though. Unlike me, you have a heart. And you’re powerless to control it.”

“I dunno, pretty sure you’ve got your own heart back by now.” Sora said, putting his hands behind his head in a relaxed gesture. “Unless you’ve kept throwing each and every replacement into the abyss?” He blinked. “You haven’t been, have you?”

“I have not.” Xemnas said through gritted teeth. “There have been no replacements. A good thing, too, considering the heart of my oh so wise master here has led him astray time and time again. Consumed by the jealousy he feels toward the student who surpassed him.”

“Xehanort. Foolish apprentice of a foolish man.” DiZ began, shaking his head. “You have surpassed nothing - only proved how little we both know. We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our reach. We’re both ignorant - as oblivious as when we began.”

“I’m afraid that any world you try to create…any world of yours…” and here, DiZ turned to shoot a dark glare at the Nobody of his apprentice. “Would be an empire of ignorance. That is why you and your creation are destined to fall!”

DiZ turned from Xemnas then, curling more over his machine. “We’ve said enough! King Mickey, my friend, forgive me!” white light began to burst from the machine, almost hiding DiZ from view. “Farewell!”

I immediately panicked and shifted forms, Branwen igniting his own dark aura in what was likely a vain attempt to shield himself from the explosion of light about to happen. We all barrelled back down the ramp, trying to put some distance - any distance - between us and the imminent explosion of unknown power. Sora actually tripped, tumbling down the ramp and almost bowling over Donald before Kairi was able to yank him back up again.

Light exploded from above us, drawing screams from our crowd as we ducked and tried to shelter together, the sheer intensity of the sharp herbal smells burning like acid in my nose. And then-

Hearts. Pink, crystalline hearts, raining down from the sky amidst a tinkling sound. Dusks celebrated below, waving their arms as though to take the hearts for their own, though they could not. Not like this.

And still the hearts came. 

It was beautiful. It was terrible. It was wrong. 

“Is it…is it over?” Sora asked.

“Gawrsh, I think it is.” Goofy said, looking around hesitantly. Mickey abruptly bolted back up the ramp, getting shouts of alarm from the rest of us.

“King Mickey!”

“Hey!”

<Mickey wait!>

“Wait for us!” We raced after him, heedless of the hearts continuing to fall. And when we got to that flat, hexagonal platform between ramps, it was to see nothing where there had once been two men. Neither of them were dead, I knew that, but it was still an ominous sight.

“Uh oh.” Donald said, an eerie wind picking up as all of our eyes turned to the false Kingdom Hearts - or rather, what was left of it. DiZ had done a serious number on the thing, and now only a shell remained.

“Oh holy frick not that many Heartless again.” Branwen moaned, looking over the railing, and we all rushed over to see what he was looking at. And oh. Ohhh, that was a lot of Heartless-!

“You’ve got to be joking!” Sora exclaimed at the absolute mob of Heartless clambering up towards us, before turning to the rest of us. “What do we do now?” I froze. I didn’t know. I-

Twin pillars of darkness, and then it was Maleficent and Pete standing before us.

“Maleficent?!” Branwen yelped.

“Be gone from here! Leave these creatures to us.” she commanded. Pete turned to face her, alarmed and unsure.

“But there’s no way we can take ‘em all!” he protested.

“I will be sending them after Xemnas.” Maleficent said, gesturing towards us. “Or, perhaps, you would rather fight them yourself?” Them? Fight who, us?

Pete froze, indecisive. “Frankly my dear, I’d rather…RUN!” he yelped.

“Off with you then.” Maleficent scoffed. Pete took a couple of steps back, before spotting Mickey out of the corner of his eye and turning to face him.

“Well, if it ain’t the boat-boy king.” he said. Mickey only grinned at him.

“Time to weigh anchor, Captain Pete!” 

“What, like ‘abandon ship’? I don’t think so!” Pete harrumphed.

“Sora. Your ‘majesty’. Do not forget - when I’ve destroyed them all, this castle shall be mine!” Maleficent said imperiously. I mentally snorted. Good luck with that.

“Now lookie here. Opportunities like this don’t come along every day, ya know.” Pete told Mickey, before running over and squaring up next to Maleficent, making his next move clear. “Bring’em on!” And with that, the pair charged down into the horde, out of sight.

“We’ve gotta hurry.” Mickey spoke up.

“But-”

“That’s right.” Branwen said, steamrolling over whatever our little brother was about to say. “Xemnas isn’t gonna take himself out you know. Besides, Maleficent and Pete are like cockroaches. They’ll be fine and making it everyone else’s problem another day.” he said, to which Sora couldn’t help but chuckle and Kairi make a face. And mutter something like ‘I hope not’ under her breath. 

“Alright.” Sora nodded, before we made for the stairs. The winding staircase took us back outside, going up and up and up in a circle around the tallest tower. Honestly, whoever designed the place in this reality should be taken out back and shot - this amount of stairs was awful, there should be something in the Geneva Convention about this.

Finally, finally, we came to the top, where Xemnas stood waiting for us. His attention, however, was solely fixated on his artificial Kingdom Hearts - or what was left of it. Much the same way Saix had been.

“Ohh…my Kingdom Hearts…ruined.” Xemnas said. “Now I’ll have to start all over again.”

“Good.” Branwen scowled.

“Warriors of the keyblade…” Xemnas turned to face us then. “Go forth, and bring me more hearts!”

“No!”

<Are you NUTS?> I couldn’t help but ask incredulously. Everyone’s weapons materialized as one at that - well, everyone’s except mine because apparently I didn’t get the memo. That was fine, baring my teeth and snarling was just as threatening. Wolves were loud when they wanted to be.

“Denizens of light, answer this: why do you hate the darkness?” Xemnas asked.

“We don’t.” Sora said flatly.

“It might be a little scary sometimes, but the world’s made up of light and darkness. You can’t have one without the other, ‘cause darkness is half of everything.” Mickey said.

<Two sides of the same coin.> I agreed, echoing the well-worn words from Twilight Princess. A dual pang of sadness and longing bloomed in my heart; I really wish I could play that game again. I pushed the thought aside - there was no place for that here. 

“Sorta makes you wonder why we are scared of the dark.” Mickey mused.

“It’s not the dark we’re scared of. The dark is fine.” Branwen said, before shooting Xemnas a look. “What is it they say again? ‘We’re not afraid of being alone in the dark, but afraid of not being alone in the dark’? It’s creeps like you that are the real fear, at least until we beat your face in.”

“Then allow me another question.” Xemnas decided. “You accept darkness, yet choose to live in the light. Even those of you whose darkness far outmatches it.” he added, nodding at Branwen. “So why is it that you loathe us who teter on the edge of nothing? We who were turned away by both light and dark - never given a choice?”

“We loathe you specifically because you’re running around screwing over the worlds for something that you don’t even need in the first place!” Sora snapped.

“And do you think we knew such in the first place?” Xemnas demanded.

“You sure didn’t stop when we told you about it!” Donald growled.

“Who would believe you-”

“Cut the act.” Kairi said scathingly, startling all of us. “If you’re so insistent that you haven’t regrown your heart, then stop pretending to be all forlorn and pitiful.”

Silence fell over the group, before Xemnas began to chuckle.

“Very good. So you see at last.” he said, before smiling. It wasn’t a nice smile. “I can not feel…sorrow, no matter what misery befalls the worlds. No matter what you think, what you feel, or how you exist.” With that, Xemnas threw up his arms, strange beams of light shooting up from all around us. They brightened, blinding me - blinding us - and when they died down again, Xemnas and Sora were gone.

Xemnas and Sora were gone.

<SORA!> I yelled, panicking along with everyone else as we scattered across the top of the tower, looking around frantically for where the two may have gone.

“Where are you?!” Donald shouted. Nothing - no answer. Sora and Xemnas were gone. Some kind of weird fight, I knew, but that didn’t stop the anxiety any.

Agonizing minutes ticked by. Donald and Branwen peeked over the edge, scanning the castle below for any sign of Sora while I stood in place, sniffing frantically for any trace of my brother’s light.

“Sora, where are you?” Kairi whispered. And finally, as though answering her prayers, a cloud of purple smoke hovered above the center of the tower, spitting Sora out flat on his face before vanishing.

“SORA!” We shouted, racing over.

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

“Where’s Xemnas?”

“Where’d you go?”

<We got bigger problems!> I yelled, reaching up and pointing with a paw at the remains of the artificial Kingdom Hearts where Xemnas was now hovering, as I knew he would be. <Xemnas is doing something and I don’t think we’ll like it!>

“Wak?! Where did he come from?!” Donald yelped.

“Hear me, Kingdom Hearts! It seems we must begin anew.” Xemnas said, arms again reaching out in supplication towards the moon of his own creation, buoyed in the air on winds of hearts and magic. “Ah, but know this: I will give to you as many hearts as it takes.”

“Kingdom Hearts! Lend me your power - the power to erase the fools that hinder us…”

“Xemnas! No!” Mickey shouted.

“What is he- is he merging with that thing?!” Kairi demanded, aghast.

“Hearts quivering in hatred…” the man continued, seemingly unbothered by our reactions.

“Is he out of his mind?!” Sora gaped. “That many hearts - is he mad?! How does he even expect to remain in control of his own body?!”

“Hearts burning with rage…”

“Gawrsh, can’t we stop him?!” Goofy asked. We all gave each other uneasy looks.

“I’m not sure we can. He’s far too out of reach. And even then, with all that magic and hearts flying around, I wouldn’t risk trying anything. Who knows what could happen.” Mickey said anxiously. “You saw how devastating that explosion with Ansem the Wise’s machine was, and that was only with one part of Kingdom Hearts.”

“Hearts scarred by envy…” Xemnas continued, though whether it was incantation or prayer I didn’t know. “That fool Ansem said the heart’s true nature was beyond his understanding. But it’s not beyond mine! Hearts are the source of all power!”

The artificial Kingdom Hearts began to glow, the light bright and blinding enough that I could smell my twin’s darkness flooding out of him on instinct to shield himself. But then the light suddenly vanished, and…the thing was still there?

“Xemnas! You can’t hide from us!” Sora spat, and I nodded, sniffing the air. Like Ansem, Xemnas was pure darkness, but…

<Nuggets. In a world of darkness like this I can’t pick him out!> I snarled, frustrated.

“We’re not gonna let him get away now!” Mickey declared.

“Look at that!” Kairi shouted, pointing at something on our left. That ‘something’ turned out to be floating pink sparkles, ones that quickly multiplied beyond all belief before blasting apart to reveal an obelisk where previously there’d been nothing.

“What’s going on?” Goofy questioned as we approached the thing. No, not an obelisk, but a pair of doors.

“He must be inside.” Kairi said, and I nodded.

“The worlds gave us this doorway.” Mickey said, though I wasn’t sure how he knew that. “They want us to be the guardians of their destiny!” As though those were the magic words, a shimmering blue-green path appeared, translucent and thin, leading from the edge of the tower to the doors themselves.

<Guess you’re right.> I said, letting my darkness recede back into my own heart. I stood, brushing off my pants. Light would probably be more effective from here. “Let’s take the fight to him then.”

“Right!” Kairi, Branwen, Sora, Mickey, and I raised our keyblades, light gathering at the tips as we pointed them at the door. Five beams of light struck as one, and the doors obligingly opened outwards, revealing a mist of pink obscuring whatever lay inside.

“Get ready Xemnas. It all ends here!” Sora shouted. We charged through the doors, finding ourselves in one trippy optical illusion of the dark city. Far in the distance, Xemnas stood. He was saying something, I think, but uh. That was way too far out of earshot.

Then there was a building coming down on us and we immediately scrambled out of the way. Said building smashed into the ground where we’d been, knocking us off our feet and onto the ground, the doors behind us swinging closed to- wait Goofy and Mickey’d been thrown too far-!

“No!” Donald shouted, reaching for the doors, but it was too late. They closed, and with Mickey and Goofy on the other side.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I growled. At least it wasn’t Kairi on the other side - that had made me salty when it’d happened in the games - but still, come on.

“We can still take him even without Goofy and Mickey!” Sora said, materializing his weapon. The rest of us were quick to summon ours in turn.

“We’ll have to.” Branwen said grimly. Bright light once again surrounded us, and when it faded we’d been teleported somewhere new: to an arena of white and silver, where ahead on a throne sat an armored figure, the mother of all swords gripped in its hands.

Xemnas’s voice - so that figure was him, good to know - said something I couldn’t quite catch, brandishing his sword at us. We charged, striking at Xemnas with our weapons only to be forced back by a barrage of silver spears. Not that that stopped us from going back at him, at least until a card-shaped reflective shield appeared in front of him, much like a Reflect. And like a Reflect, it sent us flying back to land on our butts.

“Spears, cards - are his attacks themed after the Organization’s weapons?” I asked.

“They might be! Firaga!” Donald cast, throwing a fireball directly into Xemnas’s face. Using the flames as cover, Kairi and Sora rushed at Xemnas keyblades swinging, while I hung back and fired off a light Skyward Strike at range. Only so many of us could crowd in front of the guy at once, after all. 

Sora leapt back to avoid a swing of Xemnas’s gigantic sword, while Branwen surged forward, taking Sora’s place in the onslaught.

“Thundara!” And that was Kairi taking the advantage to fire off a spell point-blank in Xemnas’s face. Enraged, Xemnas managed to throw off my twin before swinging his sword at my sister, who only just barely managed to get out of the way in time.

Spectral figures appeared then, just like the water clones Demyx had once commanded. I lunged forward while everyone else was keeping them occupied, Xemnas catching Midnight Blue on his own blade. We both strained against each other, only for Xemnas to abruptly pull his sword back. I stumbled forward at the lack of opposing force, only to take a sword to the side while I was off-balance, bouncing off the ground with a scream.

“Cura!” Kairi cast as I scrambled to my feet and jumped back into it, Branwen joining me in engaging Xemnas now, at least until Xemnas swatted us aside as well. And then took a Firaga in the face because he forgot about Donald. Ha. 

A card shield shimmered to life, sending Sora flying, and then Branwen back was in his face with Midnight Blue. Xemnas made a strangled noise at the hits, before light once again blinded us.

“I am getting really sick of this!!” Branwen snapped, to which I couldn’t help but laugh. When the brightness died down, we were back on the tower top with Goofy and Mickey, Xemnas back to normal. His knees buckled, and the Nobody crashed down to the floor. The others started to relax, but I didn’t, not yet. We still had that fight in nothingness to go through, not to mention all the stuff that came before it.

“I need…more rage…” Xemnas groaned, wisps of darkness beginning to peel away from his form. “I need…more hearts…”

“Xemnas…there’s more to a heart than just anger or hate.” Sora spoke up, looking at the broken form of the man in pity. “It’s full of all kinds of feelings. Don’t you remember? From back when you had one?” Xemnas sat there, breathing hard, before closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“Unfortunately…I don’t.” he said, amber eyes hard as he stared us down. Darkness enveloped him, Xemnas disappearing in tattered wisps of darkness just like the other Nobodies had when they’d died. Like I had, when I’d died again.

“Is it…over?” Kairi asked hesitantly, eying the spot where the Nobody had been.

“I…maybe?” Branwen asked. After a moment of nothing, he relaxed, Midnight Blue disappearing. “Yeah, I think it is!”

“Gosh, you all did great!” Mickey cheered. Everyone else dematerialized their weapons, celebrating. I was the only one not moving. Still and silent as I waited for the other shoe to drop. 

“Wait, Riku, why is your weapon still out?” Sora questioned me. I frowned.

“I don’t know…” I said, unsure of how to explain. The moment stretched out awkwardly, before I reluctantly dematerialized Midnight Blue, still taught as a wire.

“Right! Now that that’s over with, we can get moving.” Donald said happily. “We got people to save!”

“That’s right. Hey, hey, race you guys! First one to find Vexen’s research wins!” Branwen cheered, before bolting down the stairs like his life depended on it.

“Don’t fall!” Mickey yelped, running after him. Donald and Goofy were quick to follow, but Sora and Kairi hesitated when they noticed I wasn’t moving.

“Riku…?” Kairi prodded.

“It’s fine. Let’s go.” I said, walking forward. And yet still, nothing happened. We started going down the stairs, and nothing happened. We passed through the giant window room and went down even more stairs, and still nothing happened. I was so confused - wasn’t there supposed to be more? Multiple stages, and then that fight in the void of nothingness?

That’s when it hit me: this wasn’t a video game. There were no continual boss stages - why would there be? What we were fighting was just a man in the end. Not a video game boss, but a man. A Nobody. One who had been killed, and like all others, faded into darkness. 

And, for the first time since Xemnas disappeared, I relaxed.

Chapter Text

I stood at the computer inside DiZ’s mansion, eyes excitedly fixed on the monitors as I waited with a mix of eagerness and anxiety. I wasn’t the only one, either - all of us were here. Sora, Kairi, Branwen, Donald, Goofy, Mickey. Even the Twilight Town gang - Pence was the one working the computers after all. It was what he was best at.

We’d unearthed the replica research from the computer room at The Castle That Never Was, which we’d tripped over entirely by accident as I’d completely forgotten it existed. And then took it straight to Twilight Town, because DiZ’s machinery was right there and it was nice and secluded. We wouldn’t be interrupted there. Vexen’s written research only went as far as the earlier stages of the replica project, before his successes in making people, but we didn’t need his successes. Just the functional bodies - which this had. 

It had taken a bit to actually cobble together the stuff to make the replica bodies once we’d gotten the information on how, but with Mickey’s help everything was ready. We’d gotten enough to make all three bodies plus one extra just in case we screwed something up. Now, all we had to do was find the hearts in Sora’s, and guide them to where they needed to go.

“Okay, I…think I got it…” Pence muttered, typing away while I hummed anxiously near the back of the room, tapping away on my thigh. I’d had Monstrosity’s Cognition Factory stuck in my head for the past couple days now, I don’t think it was going away any time soon. 

They’re wanting more. Where’s the encore? I’ve lost my head, gone to gears instead. Height vertigo, clouded ego. Smog congestion, take the migraine nowwwwwwwww. 

Humanity! Bow before me! Reap what you sow, lose all you know. Behead the crown - now, why the frown? Everything’s gold! It’s the way it should beeeee. 

Fix. Rotate. Revert. Improve. Destr-

“Aha! Here we go!” Pence cheered, and I immediately stopped as we all looked over at the various charts popping up on the monitor. “Uh, what am I looking at?”

“What does it say?” Sora asked from where he was sitting hooked up to the computer.

“From what I can tell, there’s multiple individual wavelengths here, separate from Sora’s - wait, is that Roxas and Zion?!” Hayner asked excitedly.

“I think so!” I said, before my brain registered what was actually on the screen. “Wait, there’s four. Why are there four?” I knew Ven was there, recovering in Sora’s heart, but-

Wait. Wait. Was that- was that Vanitas?!?! He was in there too?! No wait, that was right, hadn’t Young Xehanort extracted him from Sora’s heart during Dream Drop Distance?

Hope, familiar and intoxicating, began to rise in my heart. That was Vanitas. We’d found Vanitas first - we could bring him back along with the others, give him a second chance-

Wait! I had to get rid of Mickey!!

“Hey, Mickey, Donald, Goofy.” I said, getting their attention. “I know you guys want to see Roxas, Zion, and Naminé, but if reconstituting is anything like recompleting then it might be best not to overwhelm them.” Everyone winced; we’d caught the Twilight Town gang up on everything that had happened since we’d last seen them, including my kidnapping and subsequent unwilling transformation into a Nobody. And, most importantly in this case: just how much recompletion sucked to go through. 

“Gosh, that’s true…” Mickey frowned, before nodding. “Well, we can always come back and visit later, once they’re fully recovered!”

“Exactly.” I grinned, relief washing over me as they bought the lie. Roxas had been just fine when he’d come back in the Keyblade Graveyard, I highly doubted there would be any complications. I just needed to get them out, so that when we pulled Vanitas back into the worlds he wouldn’t get automatically declared as evil and attacked - or worse, killed.

Maybe I would regret this. Maybe I wouldn’t. But Vanitas had never had the chance to live a normal life, to be a normal person. And now, I could give him that chance. Whether he took it or burned it would be up to him, but…at least he would have the choice.

“Well, I suppose we’ll be seeing you folks later.” Goofy said.

“Yeah, you definitely gotta come back and visit once we get our friends settled back in!” Hayner grinned. Donald nodded.

“You bet!” he cheered, before turning to Goofy and Mickey. “Now come on, I got a present to give Daisy!” Goofy and Mickey shot each other grins, before following Donald out of the mansion.

They bought it. I can’t believe they actually bought it. I wanted to sink to my knees in relief, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t give anything away, couldn’t let the others know there was an ulterior motive to all this.

“Alright, so, uh…how exactly are we supposed to guide them out of my heart?” Sora asked, and we all exchanged uncertain looks.

“Uh…try hugging the replica body?” I suggested, wincing. Sora looked dubious, but considering he was removing the nodes connecting him to the machine it looked like he was willing to try.

“Wait, we only have four bodies, and there’s five hearts that need them.” Olette pointed out, biting her lower lip. We all froze.

“Well…look at that wavelength, though. It’s a lot weaker than the other three. Slower too.” Kairi said, looking back at the charts showing the presences of the hearts not Sora’s own. “It might not be able to come out, not yet.”

“That’s true.” I said, because it was. “We’ll have to figure that one out later. For now, let’s just focus on getting the others their bodies back.”

“Right.” Sora said, before walking over to the table where the first of the replica bodies had been placed. “Here goes nothing.” he muttered, before leaning over and hugging the body. There was an awkward pause as nothing happened, before Sora squeezed his eyes shut.

“Come on Roxas, Zion. We’ve got your bodies, you just gotta come out and get them.” he said. A burst of light glowed from where Sora’s chest met the replica body’s, and then suddenly we were all reeling back from the absolute migraine that hit. A whine slipped between my teeth, before I peeled open my eyes, and-

“XION!!” Branwen shouted, rushing over and tackling her where she lay on the table. “Xion! You’re back! You’re back!”

“Branwen…I’m back.” Xion said, smiling weakly. “You kept your promise, all of you. You…you remembered me.” she whispered, tears building up in her eyes. “You didn’t forget.”

“But-” Sora started to protest, only for Xion to shake her head.

“We didn’t get everything, but Roxas and I got bits and pieces of what was going on while in your heart.” Oh neat, that was good to know. Probably cause they had a reason to stay awake and alert, unlike canon. Their hearts wouldn’t have melded with Sora’s own, not this time. “You forgot, but you still remembered I existed. And even though it was taken from you, you still knew what you’d promised. And you did it.” Xion said, tears running freely down her face now. “You brought me back.”

“Welcome back, Xion.” Hayner said, reaching out a hand. Xion took it, and he gently pulled her up. “We still got Roxas, Naminé, and that other guy apparently hitching a ride in Sora’s heart, so let’s get you back on your feet.”

“Other guy?” Xion questioned, sliding off the table. 

“Let’s get everyone back first, so we only have to say it once.” I suggested, picking up a second replica body before bringing it to the table. “Alright Sora, hug it again.”

“Ha ha.” Sora leaned over again, hugging the body. “Come on out, Roxas, your friends are here. We miss you!”

Another burst of light, and then suddenly Roxas was there. We all cheered, Roxas himself looking around with wide eyes, like he couldn’t believe this was actually happening. That this was real.

“Alright, Naminé next.” Kairi said, shouldering her way past everyone to grab a third replica body and bring it over to the table as Xion and I helped Roxas off.

“Not the stowaway?” Pence asked curiously, but then Kairi was already hugging the new replica body.

“You’ve got a body waiting for you, Naminé.” Kairi said, hugging it closely. “Come back to us.” A third burst of light, jumping from Kairi to the replica body, and there was Naminé in my sister’s arms. 

“Kairi…everyone.” she said, returning Kairi’s embrace. “Thank you.”

“Alright, mister stowaway’s turn.” I said, grabbing the final replica body. “Good thing we made an extra just in case we screwed anything up.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Hayner agreed. I set the body down on the table, before looking over at my brother.

“Alright, you’re up.” Sora approached the replica, giving it a hug. He paused for a moment, not really knowing what to say.

“Uh, so, I don’t know how you got into my heart, or why, but…we’ve got a body for you too. Whoever you are, you don’t have to hide anymore. You can come out now, back into the worlds.” Sora said. There was another long, lengthy pause. “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.”

As if those were the magic words - or more likely, Vanitas taking offense at the idea - a burst of darkness this time shot into the replica, and then there was a black-haired Sora in my brother’s arms.

“Whoa!” Sora said, stepping back as Vanitas opened his eyes. “You look like me!”

“What?” Everyone else said, crowding around. Vanitas looked overwhelmed, golden eyes darting around in confusion before zeroing in on Roxas. 

“Ventus!”

“Ventus? I’m Roxas.” Roxas said, confused, before holding out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

Vanitas just stared at Roxas, and then his hand, like he couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on.

“You were hitching a ride in Sora’s heart.” I started to explain. “We don’t know why, but since Roxas, Xion, and Naminé had to return to Sora and Kairi’s hearts earlier we stole Vexen’s research on replica bodies, so we could bring them back. That includes you.” I said. Vanitas just stared at me. “It’s okay if it’s overwhelming. Take your time.” I added sincerely.

“I…” Vanitas started, looking at himself, and then everyone around him. “You’re all just…fine with this?”

“Yeah? What’s there not to be fine about?” Xion asked honestly. Vanitas just stared at her as if she’d asked why water was wet. 

“I have a heart of complete and utter darkness, you idiot!” he snarled. Everyone looked startled at the admission. 

“You do?” Branwen asked, before looking over at me. I nodded. “Huh. Well, I don’t see what the big deal is.” He decided, making Vanitas do a double-take in shock. “Darkness is just a tool, same as light. So what’s wrong with you having a heart with nothing but darkness?” Branwen asked rhetorically, before shrugging. “It’s not like it’s any different from Kairi and Naminé having hearts with only light.” 

Vanitas stared. “You’re serious.”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Naminé asked, confused. Vanitas looked like he’d been slapped in the face with a fish, repeatedly. Much like Branwen had been, once upon a time. 

That’s right, Vanitas had been told his entire life that he was nothing without Ven, hadn’t he? That it was only his pure light that was wanted. That his only salvation, the only way to make the pain stop, was to merge with his other half, returning their hearts to one whole. To suddenly be confronted with people who legitimately didn’t care that he was a heart of pure darkness, not light, who didn’t see him as lesser or unnatural for what he was (or even that it was supposed to be an issue in the first place), well. It was shattering the foundations of everything he knew to be true. 

Granted I was the only one aside from Vanitas himself who knew he was actually an amalgamation of the piece of Ven’s heart Xehanort had ripped away and the fragment of the willful darkness hidden within that had come along with it - and boy, hadn’t that been a nasty surprise - but Vanitas had become more than that. Become his own person, separate from what he once was. Not Ventus, not Darkness. Just…Vanitas. 

“I…okay.” he said helplessly. “Okay. You weirdos are serious. Okay.”

“You can stay here with us, if you want.” Pence offered, making Vanitas do the second shocked double-take in just as many minutes. How he didn’t give himself whiplash I didn’t know, it was honestly impressive. “If you don’t have anywhere else to go, I mean.” The computer geek added nervously.

“I don’t.” Vanitas said flatly. Pence nodded happily.

“Then problem solved!” he cheered.

“So, what’s your name, mister stowaway?” Olette asked, and that’s when it hit me that no, Vanitas hadn’t actually introduced himself. Not yet. 

“...Vanitas.” Vanitas said reluctantly, looking around at us. Judging our reaction, I realized.

“Nice name!” Roxas said. “These guys are Hayner, Pence, Olette, Riku, Sora, Branwen, Naminé, Xion, and Kairi.” he added, introducing all of us in turn.

“Us three are gonna be living here with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town-” Xion said, gesturing to Roxas, Naminé, and herself. “-while the others live on a world called Destiny Islands.”

“Actually…” Naminé spoke up hesitantly, getting our attention. “I’d like to go with Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Branwen, if that’s alright.”

“Sure!” Kairi said, and Naminé let out a breath of relief.

“Thank you.” she said.

“Of course.” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. “You’re welcome with us.”

“That’s nice and all-” Vanitas started, immediately becoming the center of attention again. He flinched, like he wasn’t quite expecting it, before powering on. “But are you sure you want me hanging around?”

“Of course we’re sure!” Hayner scoffed. “We’ll take you clothes shopping too, Branwen was stuffed into that same stupid suit thing that you’ve got on, just in purple. It’ll feel great to be out of it, believe me.”

“I…yeah. Yeah, it will.” Vanitas said softly. He looked…smaller, somehow. Less prickly. Like he wasn’t sure what to do, but wanted all the same.

“That’s the spirit!” Olette cheered. “We’ll help you get settled in, don’t worry.”

“Speaking of getting settled in, we should be heading back home as well.” Sora spoke up. “We’ll definitely come visit, but we gotta get Naminé and Branwen settled on Destiny Islands, and you guys have stuff to do as well.”

“That’s true.” Xion nodded. “Take care on your way home, alright?”

“We will!” Branwen grinned. And with that, we left the mansion, leaving all six members of the Twilight Town gang behind. Roxas, Xion, even Vanitas - they were all part of the gang now. Or at least, I hoped Vanitas would be. He would be happy here, I think, if he let himself. Sure the Unversed were a potential issue, but I really think that if he let the Twilight Town gang into his heart, formed genuine friendships for the first time in his existence, their bond would be enough to heal the jagged wound left in his heart that had them spilling out into the worlds in the first place. If Sora, a complete and utter stranger, could connect to and heal the wound in Ven’s heart, I’m sure Roxas, Xion, Hayner, Pence, and Olette could heal the one in his. Even if they didn’t know it. 

(After all, hadn’t Sora and Kairi been the ones to heal the weeping wounds in mine?)

But again, the choice was up to him. Whether Vanitas took it or burned it, this second chance was his. Whatever the outcome, we’d deal with it as it came. 

“Wait.” Sora said, coming to a stop in the middle of the path between the secluded mansion and the city. “Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were our ride.” We all stood dumbly there for a second, before Branwen just facepalmed.

Shoot, that was right. My mind raced to come up with a solution. “Well, uh…we can take a Corridor.” I said hesitantly.

“But that’s risky!” Sora protested.

“Do you see any other options?” I asked. Sora winced, but he couldn’t deny it. Actually…

“You know, I…think I might be able to shield us?” I mused, getting confused looks from the others. “Branwen, remember waaaay back when we were training in Olympus Coliseum, trying to get me to activate the same kind of aura you do when you draw on your darkness to strengthen yourself before we realized my light and darkness works in a different way?” Branwen nodded, not sure where I was going with this. 

“One of the things I ended up doing was pushing my light out in a bubble. And when Xigbar dragged me through a Corridor, my light might’ve actually helped ward it off? I think, I got a concussion right after so I don’t really remember how helpful it was for sure.” I admitted, everyone exchanging angry looks over my head at the reminder. “If I do that again, maybe I’ll be able to cover us for the trip - it’s not a black coat or gummi ship but it’s gotta be better than nothing, right?”

“That might actually work.” Naminé said, before giving me an uncertain look. “I…do you think you can use it to shield you, Sora, and Branwen for the entire trip though?”

I winced. “I don’t actually know. We’ll take it at a run, and I’ll keep it up as long as I can. We don’t really have any better options.” Which was entirely my fault, but…Vanitas. That was worth all the hassle.

“Alright. If you’re sure.” Branwen said uneasily, before opening a Corridor home. I drew on my light, the brilliance effortlessly clinging to my skin. I took hold of it with both hands, figuratively speaking, and pushed. Just like before, it was like fighting against a taut rubber band, but it was expanding, flooding out to cover more than just myself.

“Okay. Go!” I said through gritted teeth, and we ran. Kairi and Naminé were just fine, without darkness in their hearts they were immune to the effects of the Corridors of Darkness, but Sora, Branwen, and I certainly weren’t. My light fought against me, wanting to snap back comfortably against my skin, but I held on, keeping it extended over me and my brothers.

And, to my amazement, it didn’t just help against the darkness - it kept it entirely at bay, just like when I was wearing a black coat. 

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally exited, and I immediately let go, my light snapping back in place as I wheezed and collapsed onto the sands of the Play Island.

“Riku!!”

“I’m okay.” I groaned. “Just…tired.” My light dispersed, returning easily to my heart now that it was no longer needed. And now that I was no longer locked out of using the darkness I could close the Corridor Branwen had opened behind us. “That’s…wow. Didn’t think…I mean, it, it actually…worked like…a coat?” I panted, completely and utterly flabbergasted. “Woulda been…really nice to know…before I got kidnapped.” I griped, still out of breath. 

“You couldn’t have possibly known, and it wasn’t like you could experiment then. Not when the first time you did it you were already halfway through, concussed, and then they had you under constant watch after.” Branwen pointed out, which…yeah, that was true. 

“Alright. Do we have an explanation for why Kairi would have suddenly disappeared from Destiny Islands?” Sora asked, making Kairi wince. “Riku and I haven’t even come back yet, but uh. You were already back when we picked you up, and it’s been two months since then. Your dad’s gotta be going out of his mind with worry.” Sora added. Branwen and I exchanged glances; the people here hadn’t believed Kairi when she’d said she’d come from another world - she was four and aside from her name otherwise completely amnesiac, I didn’t blame them. Not when Destiny Islands didn’t know about the other worlds. Sora and I though, Sora and I did. Why wouldn’t he, when by then I’d already shared with him the secret of my reincarnation? What was the idea of other worlds out there, places far beyond our reach, compared to that?

“Guys, before…before we do that, I…I have something I need to say.” Naminé spoke up, timid and hesitant in a way I hadn’t seen her since before Hayner, Pence, and Olette broke into the mansion last summer.

“What…is it?” I asked, sitting upright now that I’d mostly caught my breath. Naminé flinched, looking between me, Sora, Kairi, and Branwen nervously.

“I…I…” she started, before bursting into tears.

“Naminé!” we all shouted, rushing over to the stricken girl.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong, Naminé?” Kairi asked. Naminé just sniffled.

“I, I didn’t want to say anything before. Everyone else always got so mad. I’d learned to keep it locked behind my teeth, to myself, but I, I-I…” Naminé sobbed, almost incoherent in her distress.

“What do you mean, Naminé?” Branwen asked gently. Naminé looked up, tears streaming down her face, before turning her attention to…me?

“I know, Riku.” she said, much to my confusion. “Not from you, but from Sora. I saw it all, going through his memories like, like Marluxia wanted. Who you are, and…and where you’re from.” she admitted, and my blood ran cold.

“You…what?” I asked. I thought- but no, of course she would have been able to see it from Sora. My memories might be beyond her reach, but his, his were an open book. And from them…she had learned the secret of my reincarnation. 

And I hadn’t even suspected.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t tell anyone, I swear! I wasn’t even going to tell you, but I, I…” Naminé shrank back, ducking her head to her chest. “I want what you have. I saw the love you have for each other, the strength of your hearts, and I…I’m jealous.” she admitted, letting out a little laugh. “I want to be part of it too. I know you must have told Branwen at some point, since you claimed him as family. I just…I don’t even know. I just wanted to come clean, and…and ask.”

Naminé took a deep breath, before looking between the three of us. Hesitant and fragile in a way I’d never seen her before. “Can I…join you? Please? As, as not just a friend, but a…a sister?”

Naminé knew. Naminé knew, and the fact that I’d been completely and utterly oblivious to what was incredibly obvious in hindsight sent uneasy shivers down my spine. But…that hadn’t been Naminé’s fault, not really. And, if she said she hadn’t told a word to anyone, I believed her. 

The question was…did we want to fold her into our little family? This girl, this friend, who looked just as hesitant and fragile about her place as I had, once upon a time near the beginning of my second life? Someone who, despite only existing for a couple weeks at best, saw the immorality of what she was doing, what the Organization was doing, and was willing to put her everything on the line to stop it?

“Riku? What do you think?” Kairi asked me - just as she and Sora had once asked me, when all of us were small and I was still like so much shattered glass, if they could be the siblings I’d never had before, in this or any other life. Siblings who helped piece me back together, to come to terms with what had happened to me. Who stayed by my side year after year after year. Through the sleepless nights, bouts of depression, and the episodes where my grasp on reality wavered and I was no longer sure if any of this was real. Episodes I’d long since grown out of, but…

I looked up, making a decision. “Naminé…” I said, my friend looking at me with hesitant, hopeful eyes. I smiled. “Welcome to the family.” Naminé blinked; once, twice, before she let out a little wail, barreling over to slam into me with a hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” she blubbered, I raised my hand, rubbing her back soothingly.

“It’s alright.” I told her. “I trust you, Naminé. And you trusted me, way back even before you returned to Kairi, that you’d be alright. That we would return you, Roxas, and Xion to the worlds.” I said, before letting go, Naminé wiping at her eyes.

“If Riku says so, then you’re one of us, sister.” Sora said happily, a wide grin on his face. Naminé gave him a watery smile, before turning to look at Kairi and Branwen.

“I don’t mind it at all. I don’t know you very well yet, but that’ll change. Besides, you helped bring Sora back to us. That means more than any of us can say.” Kairi said honestly.

“Yeah. Riku didn’t have to bring me into the fold either, but he did.” Branwen said, before grinning. “Guess we got one more in the Riku protection squad, ey?”

“Hey!” I protested, the rest of my siblings breaking out into laughter, even Naminé. I chuckled, shaking my head. “Alright, alright. Thank you, Naminé, for keeping the secret, and for what you did for Sora, back in Castle Oblivion. For being willing to make things right, no matter the consequences to yourself, even when you weren’t even sure of your own existence.” No, seriously; I was proud to call her sister, secret or no.

“Of course.” Naminé said. “Those memories were what gave me the courage to, what did Hayner call it…maliciously comply?” she asked, before chuckling, shaking her head. “Maliciously comply with the Organization’s demands for Branwen back in Castle Oblivion, when I’d wanted to stop changing Sora’s memories but was too scared to defy them outright. They wanted me to make Branwen think he was you, but they’d specifically told me to give him only your memories of Destiny Islands, nothing more, thinking that ‘more’ was just your time on Hollow Bastion and useless to them. So I gave them exactly what they wanted, and no more, knowing Sora would quickly realize something was up with Branwen missing the context of your first life.” Naminé added, a small grin on her face.

“Nice.” Branwen grinned. “Even if they are, you know, full of more little holes than swiss cheese.” Naminé burst out laughing, looking startled, before dissolving helplessly into giggles. 

“I figure it’s because in my old life, memories are stored in the soul, not heart. And when I was reborn here they suddenly had a new place they were supposed to go from now on: the chain of memories. Which is in the heart, not the soul, and so they ended up all tangled between them.” I explained to Naminé, who made a little ‘oh’ of understanding.

“That would do it, I think.” she said, before swallowing, seeming to gather her courage before asking me, “You’re, you’re really not mad? That I learned this?”

“No.” I answered honestly. “Not at all. You learned it and you kept it safe. Not only that, but you didn’t let it stop you from reaching out in friendship. Honest, genuine friendship.”

We smiled at each other, the five of us, our family grown by one. Then the moment passed, and we were back to our original problem.

“So. Excuses for me.” Kairi said, before sighing. “I…honestly don’t know what to say. If I said a Corridor of Darkness took me again that would just make everyone panic, thinking they could come for them at any time again.”

I winced. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.” I said, and Sora nodded his head in agreement.

“Hmm…oh! How about we blame the Organization!” Branwen said giddily, much to our confusion.

“What do you mean?” Sora asked.

“We say they kidnapped her, and on Sora and Riku’s way back from wherever the fall of Destiny Islands dumped them they found out and got her back!” Branwen explained.

“Even though it was Riku who was the one who actually got kidnapped?” Kairi asked, a teasing smirk growing on her face.

“Hey!” I complained, though I couldn’t help my own smile…nor the knowing irony that, once upon a time in another life, it really had been Kairi who was taken.

“We can say Riku got kidnapped too, and we had to rescue you together.” Sora snickered, and I made noises of mock offense.

“Sounds plausible enough, I think. It’d explain my presence too, and why you guys have adopted me as family if I helped.” Naminé agreed. 

“Not to mention explain why Sora and I were so late getting back.” I added. We all grinned at each other, solution found, before Branwen coughed, drawing our attention back to him.

“So, uh. How are we gonna explain me?” he pointed out, and uh. Uhhhhh.

“Well.” I winced, before laughing helplessly. “That one’s gonna be a doozy to explain.”

“We’ve got time to come up with something.” Naminé said. We all started brainstorming then, pooling ideas together and offering suggestions. Some of them were somewhat reasonable, some completely wild, and some just silly things thrown in there to relieve the tension and make us laugh. Something sorely needed after the last couple of months.

Even in the midst of all this, my heart couldn’t help but soar. Finally, finally, we were home. And it was good to be home - new found family and all.