Summons

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.

This may or may not be updated as the urge to write about assorted KH Summons strikes me.

As Sora goes through his adventures, he encounters a number of different ways to reach out with his heart to summon help from distant friends.

This chapter is set in Kingdom Hearts 1. Sora is 14. (I have a 13 year old nephew. He is so tiny. I am having FEELS issues with thinking about Sora being less than a year older and going through the first game plot, let alone the rest of the games...)

King's Pride

Just as Sora nodded to Aerith and Leon with a grin, beginning to turn away, Leon called him back, "Wait, Sora. Take this with you." The tall young man held out his hand, a gleaming, spherical, translucent, red-orange stone nestled in his palm.

Sora turned back around with an expectant, curious look on his face, leaning forward to look at the polished stone. "What is it?" he asked before flashing a bright, excited grin up at Leon, blue eyes searching the taller teen's face as if to verify that yes, Leon really was giving him a gift of some sort.

Leon huffed out a breath, working on keeping up the serious, indifferent look on his face, even as he insistently held his hand out further toward Sora. Sora beamed in response and picked up the stone, holding it between his fingers as he turned it this way and that, getting a good look.

"This stone holds some mysterious power," Leon continued with a serious nod, briefly folding his arms across his chest as he tried to shrug off Sora's sheer delight at being given something from the young man.

"Really?!" Sora looked back up at Leon, looking even more excited, if that was possible. He held the stone up to the dim lighting of the underground waterway. It seemed to glow from within as he held it up between his fingers, the light seeming to pulse through the amber-hued stone.

Leon just gave an affirmative hum before letting his arms settle to his sides and continuing. "I've been carrying it for luck. I want you to hold onto it."

Sora's eyes got even bigger, looking suspiciously shiny, as his mouth dropped open slightly. Leon glanced away to the side, letting his hair obscure his eyes. He really, really hoped he'd just imagined the start of the kid's lower lip quivering. The last thing he wanted was for Sora to get all emotional over this. Just, the kid might be able to make better use of it than he'd been able to; he'd never been able to tap into that power himself. Besides, Sora needed the luck more than he did these days.

Sora closed his hand securely around the good luck stone, closing his mouth and giving a firm nod as he straightened. But he couldn't stop smiling up at Leon. He swallowed and made an effort to keep his voice steady, speaking once he's sure his voice wasn't wobbling that much. "How do you use it?"

Leon glanced back at Sora, then away again, hiding his embarrassment behind his hair and folded arms again. He… didn't actually know. But it's not like he wanted to admit it to the kid. And Sora still had traces of that tearful look of awe and joy on his face, and Leon had no idea how to handle that.

Aerith giggled softly, hand over her mouth, smiling at the two of them. Leon had always been so terribly awkward when dealing with emotions and emotional people. Leon turned away, trying to cover by acting all mysterious and aloof again. She just giggled harder.

Sora glanced to Aerith, then back to Leon. Then he just tilted his head to the side, curious and expectantly waiting for a response that didn't seem to be coming.

After a long moment, Donald sighed and shook his head, tapping his foot impatiently as he put his wing-hand over his eyes. "Oh brother…" he muttered roughly in a low voice.

"Ahyuck," Goofy chuckled good naturedly, hand over his muzzle.

Sora glanced at them, then back at Leon and Aerith. He huffed loudly, folding his arms behind his head and rocking back on his heels. "Well, alright then." He grinned widely up at Leon's back, even if he couldn't see him. "We'll just ask around. Maybe somebody else knows… if you don't," he added cheekily.

Leon hid the embarrassed cringe in his shoulders, from the boy's teasing, by lifting one hand to rub the bridge of his nose. The kid was entirely too perceptive sometimes.

Aerith giggled louder and stepped closer to Sora. Leaning down she ruffled his wild hair and smiled warmly down at him. "Go on, now. I'm sure you'll figure it out, even if Leon can't," she teased, winking at Sora.

Sora beamed up at her. He opened his hand to look down at the stone once more, then tucked it safely into his pocket. Looking up at Leon's back again, he grinned brightly, "Thanks Leon, Aerith," he smiled over at her too before turning back to Donald and Goofy. "Alright! Let's go talk to Cid so he can figure out this Gummi block!"

"Right!" Goofy grinned and gestured for Sora to lead the way back out of the underground waterway.

"Finally!" Donald grumbled, then had to hurry after Sora as the boy took off at an enthusiastic run down the tunnel.

As the echoes of their voices faded, Aerith stepped up beside Leon, hands clasped behind her back as they stood together and looked across the grotto to the mural on the far wall. She swayed a bit back and forth on her feet for a moment before nudging him in the side. "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll figure out how to use it to help somehow. And besides, that good luck charm helped you find your way safely here, right? I'm sure it will help Sora come back safe too."

Leon exhaled slowly, then gave a quiet grunt in agreement. It had worked for him in the Dark. It would work for Sora too. He had to believe.

After talking with Cid, the gruff gummi expert had sent them off to deliver a book to Merlin. Donald had insisted on carrying the book himself, since if the Wizard Merlin was interested in it, then it had to be important. And he didn't want Sora to risk damaging it any more than it already was.

Sora pouted at Donald's back as he followed along behind his two companions. He wouldn't have dropped it or anything. It's not like it was his math textbook back-. He huffed out a breath to himself. It didn't even belong to him, and Cid had put a lot of effort into fixing it for Merlin too! He would have taken great care of it! He pouted harder at the duck's back, willing Donald to feel his disgruntlement. And if Donald turned around, maybe he'd be able to pout enough to get him to give in and let him look at the book just a little bit. But it didn't seem to be working. Donald was ignoring him as they crossed the plaza.

Sora huffed and tucked his hands in his pockets. Then he abruptly brightened up as he dug deep into his pocket with one hand, shuffling through all his assorted stuff.

It had taken a bit of convincing after seeing how Donald and Goofy's own pockets worked, but Donald had enchanted his pockets so he could carry all his stuff – it was so convenient! He could fit all kinds of stuff in them now! Even stuff that wouldn't normally fit in pockets! He didn't need a book-bag or a backpack or anything! Definitely worth how long he'd spent convincing Donald during the gummi flights! He was still debating with himself if he could keep food in them too. But he wasn't sure he wanted to risk forgetting about something in there and it going bad.

Digging past the clink of potions and the jingle of his munny pouch, Sora found his target. He grinned brightly as he pulled out his hand and held up the Earthshine gem that Leon had given him. His good luck charm.

Holding it between his fingers, Sora held it up to the bright lights of the district lampposts as the group walked by. It seemed to glow brighter out here, more red-gold than reddish-orange. Just like before, the light shining through the stone seemed to pulse, brighter then dimmer. For some reason, it made him think of a slow, sleepy heartbeat. Still smiling, he rolled it into his palm. It felt warm in his hand.

"Mysterious power, huh…?" he murmured to himself, still gazing into the warm glow of the polished stone.

"Hurry up, Sora! We don't want to keep Merlin waiting!" Donald shouted impatiently at him from the Third District gate up ahead.

Sora snapped his head up to spot Donald and Goofy waiting for him at the gate. Sora had fallen behind the two as they walked. He grinned and closed his hand around the stone, jogging to catch up with them with a laugh. "Alright! Let's go!" and he shoved the gate open, bounding ahead of them, leaving them to hurry and catch up.

Apparently, Merlin knew what to do with the Earthshine gem. Or, at least, Merlin knew who they should ask about it. And the old wizard had even given Sora permission to look at the book whenever he wanted too! With magic lessons that were more like a target practice game than schoolwork, Merlin was definitely in his top favorite wizards of all time. Not that Sora knew all that many wizards. But Merlin was definitely up there! Not even Donald had known what to do with the good luck gem Leon had given him.

But Merlin said that the kind, grandmotherly Fairy Godmother would know what to do with the stone. Sora wasn't sure if she counted as a wizard since she was a Fairy, but she was definitely on his favorites list too.

Sora held out the red-gold stone to the Fairy Godmother. It seemed to glow in his palm. "Do you know what this is?"

"Oh, let me just see, my dear." Fairy Godmother leaned forward over his outstretched hand, taking his hand into her slender-fingered hold. She gave a little gasp after a moment, one hand going to her mouth. "Oh, the poor thing!" she exclaimed.

Sora looked up at her with surprise and no small amount of worry in his expression.

"He has turned into a summon gem," she explained kindly to Sora, though her voice held a tone of sorrow.

Sora blinked up at her in confusion, "A summon gem?"

"What?!" Donald quacked as he shuffled closer, standing on his webbed toes to get a better look at the stone in Sora's palm. "I thought that kind of thing was bigger…" he mumbled near-incoherently to himself.

"This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness," she sighed heavily, sadness seeming to weigh on her shoulders. She stroked the stone with one fingertip, almost as if petting it. "When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants." She sighed softly, but mustered up an encouraging smile for Sora. "But this one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world."

Sora looked down at the small stone in his palm, biting his lower lip for a breath. He curled his fingers more securely, protectively around the stone. He looked back up at the Fairy Godmother, worry and concern clear in his expression, "Can he regain himself?"

"Yes," she sighed softly, "but only his spirit."

Sora frowned, fingers curling more firmly around the stone.

"For now, at least," Fairy Godmother smiled kindly down at Sora and patted his shoulder reassuringly, "Now, watch!"

Sora perked up, intrigued.

"Bippity," she swept her wand up, the tip lighting up brightly and trailing sparkles like moonlight over water, "boppity," she swished the wand in fanciful patterns, leaving glowing trails of light in the air above Sora's hand and the summon gem, "boo!" She finished with a flourish tapping the glowing tip of her wand to the stone. There was a bright silvery flash and then the stone began to glow bright amber-gold in his palm.

It was so warm in his hand. It was bright sun streaming down on warm stone and packed dirt beneath his toes. The scent of sun-baked, golden-brown summer grass tickling at the back of his nose. Quiet whispers of lush green jungle leaves in a breeze. Earthy green scents and the sound of trickling water over stones. The faint whisper of a catchy song at the edge of his hearing, which he couldn't quite make out.

Sora blinked, coming back to himself. Then he blinked again to clear the afterimages of the flash of light. Looking down at his palm again, the stone continued to glow. It wasn't as bright as it was when the wand first touched it, but it was definitely glowing on its own now, for sure. The glow was also definitely pulsing now, faster paced than before. Instead of a sleeping heartbeat, it felt awake.

Sora curled his fingers protectively and firmly around the gem. He looked back up at the Fairy Godmother.

She smiled warmly down at him and patted his tousled hair. "His name is Simba. Whenever you call, he will help you."

Sora's eyes widened. He hadn't expected this lost person to help him. Warmth swelled in his chest and crawled up his throat. He brought the hand holding the gem, Simba, in to his chest. It seemed to grow warmer and brighter cupped against his shirt. He swallowed thickly and nodded.

Fairy Godmother tutted warmly and stroked his hair again. "If you find any more of these, bring them to me."

Sora was nodding before she even had a chance to continue.

"Don't worry," she placed her hands on his shoulders comfortingly, "when their worlds are restored, they will return there." Sora's eyes widened even more, his heart filling with joy and relief even as she continued talking. "Sora, please help save them."

He nodded vigorously and clenched his fist around Simba's gem with determination, "Don't worry, I will." It wasn't just a promise to her.

Fairy Godmother smiled down at him and gave his hair one last stroke, still utterly failing to tame his spikes. "Take care now, dearie, and don't be a stranger."

Standing just outside Merlin's house, Sora gazed down at the softly glowing gem in his hand once more. Idly, he ran his thumb over the surface of the gem, almost as if stroking it. "A summon gem, huh?" He looked up at Donald standing at his side, also eyeing the gem. "Do you know anything about summon gems, Donald?"

"Eh," he rubbed his bill for a moment, then nodded a little bit. "The ones I've seen were all bigger than that. And had a lot more potent magic in them. I don't know what that's gonna summon. But I don't think it has a lot of magic all by itself to work with."

Sora tilted his head to the side in confusion, brows furrowed, "Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Donald quacked and huffed, folding his arms across his chest, "It means that if we want him to be much help in a fight, we're all gonna have to channel our magic into it when we summon him."

"Gawrsh, all of us?" Goofy leaned in to gently poke the gem with his finger.

Donald nodded and huffed, "Goofy and I aren't gonna be much use in a fight with all our energy tapped to help you maintain a summon." He poked a feathered finger into Sora's stomach, "You haven't got the control or experience to maintain it on your own, Sora. Ah-ah!" he held up his hand, stopping Sora's protest before it even began, "Don't argue! I mean it! The Keyblade gives you a lot of power to work with, but you can't handle that much yet – not with your control. So don't even try. Somebody'll get hurt."

Sora looked down at the gem and frowned, then bit his lower lip for a second, then looked back up at Donald and Goofy. "If it drains you that much, will you guys be okay? If it's in the middle of a fight…"

"Don't you worry none, Sora. We'll be just fine." Goofy patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah, don't worry about us. I can throw up a barrier before you summon. An then those Heartless will have more to worry about than trying to get at us."

Sora looked back and forth between the two, then nodded, determined. "Okay. If you're sure we can handle it."

"A' course we can," Goofy reached up to ruffle Sora's hair. "Now, why don't we say 'hello' to our new partner, a'hyuck."

Sora grinned back and nodded, fist gripping Simba's gem tightly. "Right!" Then he paused and glanced at the gem, opening his fist again. Then he looked back up at Donald and gave a sheepish grin, reaching up with his free hand to scratch his cheek, "Uh… how do we do this again?"

"Sora!" Donald huffed in exasperation. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "You might as well use the Keyblade to channel your magic. We all know how bad your control is when you're not using it."

"Hey! I'm getting better!"

"A'hyuck! You'll get it soon enough, Sora! But for now, just listen to Donald. He's an expert, ya know."

Sora huffed and pouted, folding his arms across his chest for a moment, glaring at Donald. Donald just grumbled about singed feathers and gave Sora the stink-eye.

"Come on, now," Goofy cajoled the two, patting both of them on the back. Donald almost lost his balance before swatting at Goofy and straightening back up.

Sora just sighed and let his arms and shoulders drop. Then he straightened back up and summoned the Keyblade to his hand with a flash of light. "Alright, focus," he muttered to himself. Still holding Simba's gem in his hand, he clasped both hands around the handle of the Keyblade. He closed his eyes, feeling the familiar thrum of power singing through the Keyblade. He could feel his own magic drawn out of his hands and into the Keyblade, filling it; the Keyblade in turn enhancing it and resonating with the power, and then the magic circulating back around to flow back into his body, closing the circle.

The already warm gem began to grow warmer, almost hot to the touch. Focusing on the gem, he could feel it pulsing between his palms, like a deep, fast heartbeat. He could feel his own heartbeat, speeding up to try to match it – to match Simba's heartbeat.

He reached.

Hot sunlight beating down on sun-baked stone. The scent of dusty earth and dry grass filled his nostrils. A whisper of cool, relieving shade and moist, rich jungle soil.

Simba?

The warm pulse of the gem slowed, more closely matching Sora's heartbeat.

…Who's there?

I'm Sora. I'm glad to meet you!

Where-? …What happened?

…I'm sorry.

Sorry? …Why?

Because… Your world, and… my world too, have been swallowed up by Darkness.

What-? What do you mean by that?

Our, our worlds are gone. We both survived though! So don't give up hope, Simba! Our hearts are strong enough to make it through the Darkness. We both made it here, where we could meet! We can't give up now!

G-gone…

I-I know it sounds bad right now. And it is… But I'm not giving up! I'm going to find my missing friends, and then help Donald and Goofy's King figure out how to restore our lost worlds. Then we can go home again! So don't give up, Simba! We're in this together!

T-together? But, Sora… It's so dark here. And why can't I feel my paws? Or anything, for that matter?

Oh… I thought- Ah. You lost your body when your world fell, Simba.

What?!

It'll- It'll be okay! We'll fix this together! Your heart and your spirit are strong, so you're still here!

My- my spirit? Am I dead? Are- are you one of the great Kings of the past?

King? Me? No no. You're not dead. You just don't have a body right now. When your world fell, you were changed into a summon gem stone, and your spirit is tied to it. I'm holding it right now. Don't worry, I'll take care of your gem and keep it safe, till you get your real body back when your world is restored!

That- that sounds like one of Timone's crazy ghost stories…

I know. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale. But it's true. So we've got to do our best! Okay, Simba?

Okay. …We just have to keep moving forward. But… Sora,I don't think I'm going to be able to help like this. I can't even see you.

That's where I come in! My friends, Donald and Goofy, and I can share our power with you. We can summon you here to us, and give your spirit a body for a little while. Is that okay? Will you help us fight the creatures, the Heartless, that are making more worlds fall? Help us stop them?

Are these the creatures that took our worlds too?

Yeah.

Then count me in. I'll help you fight as best I can, Sora.

Alright! We'll summon you in just a moment so we can meet face to face!

Sora exhaled slowly then inhaled a deep breath as he opened his eyes. He flicked his gaze to Donald and Goofy, "Ready guys?" They both nodded firmly. Sora inhaled again, then poured his magic into the Keyblade, and through it, into Simba's gem.

"Give me strength!" Instinctively, without thinking it through, he thrust his Keyblade forward, twisting it to make an unlocking motion. He felt Donald and Goofy's energies wash over him like a warm tide. Strength and Control supported the barely restrained flood of his own magic as the Keyblade glowed, energy swirling and flaring along its length, coalescing into a bright orb of magic at the tip. With a sweep of the Keyblade, he swung and launched the orb of magic into the sky above him. Swirling streams of magic arced off the orb and around him, sweeping upwards in a helix of power. The sweeping streams of power swirled together, tighter and tighter in the air. The magic rushed together, forming and outlining a large, powerful, feline figure shadowed by swirling mist.

The massive feline stepped forward, out of the mist. The moment his paw set down again, color washed through him as his body solidified. The lion threw back his head and roared.

Sora stared, wide-eyed in awe. For a heartbeat, he could see the lion standing on a massive outcropping of solid rock, towering above him, roaring into the sun. Then the vision was gone as the lion leaped down from the place in the air where it had formed from nothing but magic, heart, and spirit. The lion easily out-massed Sora by at least three times, if not more. To say nothing of Donald or Goofy. It landed on the ground beside Sora, and he stumbled back a pace.

The lion turned its head toward Sora, looking around before giving its thick mane a shake.

Sora flicked a gaze toward Donald and Goofy. They both looked exhausted, wiped out by supporting the summon. Wait- This lion is the summon. This is- "Simba?"

The lion, Simba, immediately turned his focus fully on Sora. His ears twitched and his tail lashed for a moment. He tilted his head, then, "Sora?"

Sora immediately grinned and cheered, pumping a fist in the air and bouncing on his heels, "It worked, Simba! You're here! And you're a lion! That's so awesome!"

Simba laughed with a deep rumbling sound and padded closer, dipping his head a bit to better take in Sora's scent, "And you're a… I'm not actually sure? Some kind of monkey?"

"Ohh, he's a monkey, alright," Donald muttered, using his staff to help keep himself upright.

"A'hyuck. No, Donald, Sora's a human!" Goofy just sat down right where he was, legs sprawled out comfortably.

"Yeah! That's right. I'm a human! It's great to finally meet you in person, Simba!"

"Hey there, Simba. I'm Goofy! And this here is Donald. He's a duck, you know," Goofy added in a stage whisper to Simba.

Donald just grumbled about being able to introduce himself. Sora looked over at the both of them, worried that neither one seemed to be recovering at all yet. "Are you sure you're both going to be okay helping hold the summon?"

"Sure we're sure, Sora!" Goofy smiled.

"Yeah. We'll be just fine once the summoning spell reaches its time limit," Donald nodded sagely, then stopped abruptly to maintain his balance.

"Time limit?" Simba stepped closer, not quite sure what was wrong.

"Summons only last for a short time, then the spell ends and you return to being a spirit, instead of having a body," Donald tapped the end of his staff against the ground firmly.

"Oh. So I guess I can't stay like this for long…" Simba lowered his head, frowning down at the ground.

Sora stepped forward and hesitated, then reached out to pet Simba's mane. "Hey, it'll be okay. I've got your summon gem. I'll keep it safe, just like I said before. As long as I have it, I'll be able to summon you again. And even if you're not with us out here, you're still with us. So you're never alone." He grinned and nodded firmly, certain of what his heart was telling him.

Simba lifted his head to look over at Sora beside him. The human had such bright blue eyes, like none he'd seen before. Did all humans have eyes like that? Sora sounded pretty wise, but Simba had to wonder just how grown he was – the half-mane he had on his head made it seem like he was only half-grown. But who knew, with humans? Regardless, from the moment Sora had first spoken to him in the dark, he'd felt like he could trust that voice. He stretched his neck to nuzzle against Sora's shoulder and chest, making Sora stumble back a step before he laughed and leaned in to rub his cheek against Simba in return, like a lion would.

"Right. We're in this together," Simba rumbled.

"Right! Together!" Goofy laughed and pushed himself up to clap a hand on Sora's shoulder. He glanced over at Donald and meaningfully tilted his head toward the group.

Donald sighed, then stomped over to pat Sora's hip and elbow Goofy good-naturedly, "Yeah, yeah. Together."

"Mm," Sora nodded happily. "Together!"

I took a few liberties with the game dialogue to flesh it out a bit more than the blunt text boxes from the game. But the game dialogue itself is all there and intact.

This is only my second thing for the KH fandom, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. It actually ran on much longer than I initially intended, but Simba is his first ever Summon so I let the muse run with it.

I also never really liked the idea that Donald and Goofy just get sucked into Sora's magic clothes for Summons/Drive Forms and vanish. So I decided that instead of disappearing, it just completely wipes out their energy to help Sora channel a Summon or Drive Form, because they're pouring that power into Sora. They're out of the fight till the ability ends, but they're still in the area, either taking cover or throwing up a barrier wall as Sora carries the fight and draws all the aggro.

Also, considering in KH2, Simba and Mushu both recognize Sora, Donald and Goofy by name, and obviously know each other, it's obvious that there had to be more to the Summons than just 'call to fight, then vanish again till next fight summon.' They talked. They got to know each other. They became allies and friends. So, I wrote this. The Pride Lands reunion scene with Simba recognizing Sora and nuzzling him is just too adorable to not acknowledge their friendship from when Simba was just a summon gem spirit.

Enjoy and review.