Kingdom Hearts: Starlit (K)night
An OC fanfic about a fourth member of the Birth by Sleep team
I managed to upload the new chapter in six days. I'll try to update every week. no promises though.
And thank you Blargus for your review, I hope you will continue to read.
Dreams and Reunion
Aqua and Innis arrive in a new world in front a large castle. They gaze at it in awe. Innis pulls out a sketchbook and begins to draw. Aqua notices this.
"What are you drawing?" She asks
"I'm sketching the castle," Innis replied, "I always do that to remember the worlds I've visited."
"That's right you used to travel before you started training with us under the Master." Aqua glances at her friend's drawing. "You're quite the artist."
"Thanks," Innis said as she finished, "I only have time for a quick sketch; we have a job to do."
"Right, let's see if anyone in that castle knows anything." Aqua said and the two headed to the castle.
They enter the castle foyer and look around in awe. Suddenly they hear a voice shouting.
"Mademoiselle! Senorita!" A girl in ball gown runs by as well as the man shouting at her, "Wait!"
"Aqua, Innis" A voice calls out. They look to see Terra at the top of the staircase.
"Terra!" they both say. Terra makes his way down the stairs to them.
"Terra… Ven ran away from home." Aqua tells him.
"What?" Terra says astonished.
"I think he left to go find you." Innis explained, "Do you have any idea why?"
"No…. uhh… actually… just before I left, he tried to tell me something. I should have listened to what he had to say."
"Oh… so… do you manage to locate Master Xehanort?" Aqua asked.
"No, but it seems he's looking for pure hearts filled with light." Terra answers.
"Pure hearts… filled with light…" Innis repeated. Terra starts to walk away.
"All I can tell you is that his search hasn't taken him here." Terra finishes.
"All right, we'll stay and see if we can find more clues." Aqua says
"Okay, the prince is in the ballroom ahead. He might have some answers." Terra tells them.
"Thanks," Innis replies. They turn to head to the ballroom.
"Aqua, Innis." Terra says stopping them. "You two still have the same dream?"
"Well… yes." "Yeah."
"There's this girl here… her name is Cinderella. She made me realize how powerful it is just to believe. No matter how impossible things seem… a powerful dream will always be enough to light the darkness."
"Uh" Aqua and Innis both nodded their agreement to Terra's words.
"If you see her, give her my thanks." Terra says.
"Will do." Aqua tells him. Terra turns and leaves.
"He'll be alright." Aqua says reassured. "He won't give in to it."
"Yeah," Innis agrees.
They head into the ballroom and pass by three women who were on their way out. Aqua and Innis stop and look back at the three women, sensing something about them.
"Did you feel that, Aqua?" Innis asks
"Yeah," Aqua responds. A man comes running into the ballroom and passes by them. "Who are those ladies?"
The man turns and walks up to them. "Oh, er, if I recall correctly, that is Lady Tremaine and those are her daughters." Aqua and Innis glance at each other, silently agreeing that something is very wrong about those them.
"You came back," the Prince who had approached said to Aqua.
"Huh?" Aqua responded.
"Oh, my apologies. I was mistaken." The Prince said.
"Your highness, I found this on the palace stairs." The Grand Duke announced. He held up a glass slipper.
"A glass slipper?" The Prince said.
"One dropped by a lovely young lady, and I'll search far and wide to find the maiden to whom this belongs." The Grand Duke stated.
"You will?" The Prince asked.
"Of course, Your Highness. After all, you have finally found someone you wish to marry. Upon hearing that happy news, your father, the king, has decreed that a quest shall begin immediately throughout the kingdom. And I will start with the closest residence… that of Lady Tremaine." The Grand Duke said and both men left, the Duke to the foyer and the Prince to the opposite way.
"Lady Tremaine… We'd better pay her a visit." Aqua said
"Right," Innis agreed.
They headed out of the castle to a house close by. They walk up to the door and listened in.
"Your honor our humble home, m'lord." A woman, most likely Lady Tremaine said.
The Grand Duke clears his throat. "Quite so."
"May I present my daughters, Drizella and Anatasia."
Aqua and Innis stepped back from the door. "As we feared there is darkness here." Aqua said. She summons her keyblade and walks towards the door.
"I don't think, barging in is a good idea." Innis cautions her friend.
"She's right," A voice says, a mist appears, "It's dangerous to fight darkness with light, my dear." The mist forms into an elderly woman.
"Who are you?" Aqua asks. Innis watches, also curious as to this person's identity.
"Cinderella's Fairy Godmother," the woman replied. "I appear to those who believe that dreams come true."
"Then we are honored," Innis says.
"But why would you advise me not to fight darkness with light?" Aqua asks.
"Strong rays of sun create dark shadows." The Fairy Godmother explains, "Sadly, Lady Tremaine and both her daughters are jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, qualities that appear to you as 'light.' Jealousy is darkness. Light and dark go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other."
"Then what should we do?" Aqua asks. Innis nods head earnestly for an answer as well.
"It's quite simple, dears." Fairy Godmother replies, "One of Cinderella's friends is trying very hard to keep her light from fading. I want you two to join little Jaq and help him."
"We can do that." Aqua says.
"We'll do our best." Innis agrees.
"You'll need a bit of my magic to help Jaq." The Fairy Godmother waves her magic wand. "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"
Her spell surrounds Aqua and Innis and turns them both into a small ball of light which enters one of the upstairs windows.
The light reaches the floor of the room and turns back into Aqua and Innis, except they are now small like mice. Speaking of mice, they see a mouse walk by with a key.
"Mean stepmother, gotta help Cinderella." The mouse said. Aqua and Innis follow him.
"Are you okay?" Aqua asks.
"Cinderella's stepmother locked her in her room." The mouse explained, "I've gotta let her out! I've gotta save Cinderella."
Aqua summoned her keyblade, Rainfell, and Innis summoned her keyblade, Night Runner.
"Let us help you." Innis said.
"Oh, thank you." He turned to us, and stared at our keyblades. "Ooh, those are like Ven's! Did you ever meet Ven?"
"I'm Aqua and she's Innis, but tell us how you know about Ven."
"We're friends…good friends. Ven helped me fix Cinderella's dress." Jaq told us.
"And where is he now?" Innis asked hopefully.
"He's looking for a friend… another friend."
"I see," Aqua said; she turned to Innis. "Ven must have just missed Terra." Innis nodded sadly.
Voices were heard downstairs.
"I can't understand why… It always fit perfectly before."
"Quite enough of this, the next young lady; please…"
"Oh no! Hear that! We've gotta hurry! Cinderella's gotta try that slipper. Come on, hurry!" Jaq urged to the two.
Jaq starts to run with the key, but monsters appear in front of him.
"Ah! No, no, no! We've gotta hurry!" He yelled.
"These must be the unversed!" Innis said as she readied her keyblade.
"It's all right." Aqua assured Jaq as she too readied her keyblade. "Leave this to us. Jaq, don't lose that key!"
The unversed attacked leaping at Jaq, Aqua jumped in and struck them down before they could reach him. More appeared behind them. Innis rushed them with powerful swings and destroyed them. As the two dealt with the unversed, Jaq made a run for a mouse hole with the key, but more unversed appeared to block him. Innis dashed forward and split her keyblade and half for quick multiple strikes.
Once all the unversed were defeated, Jaq was able to make it the mouse hole.
"Thanks, Aqua and Innis!" he yelled as he ran to free Cinderella.
In the living room the Grand Duke had just finished trying the slipper on Lady Tremaine's two daughters.
"You're the only ladies here?" he asked.
"There's no one else, Your Grace." Lady Tremaine lied.
The still small Aqua and Innis stood on a stair-rail post watching.
"Come on… hurry, Jaq!" Aqua said. Innis was getting worried as well.
The Grand Duke turns to leave and Aqua on impulse starts to run to jump from post.
"Wait Aqua!" Innis tries to stop her but it's too late. Aqua suddenly grows back to normal size and falls to the floor below.
Innis also returned to normal size but was able to keep from falling. She hid herself on the second floor to keep from being spotted. 'One uninvited guest is more than enough. If they see me, it'll only make things worse.'
Aqua had indeed been spotted, as there was no way hide after falling down that way.
"Oh… would it… would it be alright… if I tried on the glass slipper?" Aqua asks, and Innis face-palms herself.
"Hm… I met you at the palace. Unfortunately, you are not the young lady the Prince is looking for." The Grand Duke replies.
"But I am a girl. I should at least be given a chance to try it on." Aqua insisted.
"Who are you?" Lady Tremaine suddenly demanded. "and what are you doing in my house?"
"She's probably here to rob us!" "Mother, do something!" the daughters wailed.
"That girl does not live here. I have only two daughters. I believe we're finished here, Your Grace." Lady Tremaine said.
"Regardless," The Grand Duke replied, "She means no harm." The Grand Duke walks over to Aqua. "Here you are my dear."
"Jaq! Hurry…" Aqua said under her breath.
While this was going on, Innis, who had been watching from upstairs, noticed the door behind her open. Cinderella stood there surprised to see someone in the house.
"Looks like Jaq made it." Innis whispered to Cinderella. "Don't worry, we were sent by the Fairy Godmother." Cinderella relaxed after hearing that. "My friend is down there buying you time, now go try on that slipper." Cinderella nodded and headed down the stairs.
"Your Grace… please wait. May I try it on?" Cinderella called out. Innis hid herself so they wouldn't see her.
"Pay no attention to her. She's just an imaginative child." Lady Tremaine tried to intervene.
"Madam, my orders were every maiden." The Grand Duke said.
"You should let her go first." Aqua insisted. She walks over to the staircase and stretches her arm out to Cinderella.
"Thank you." Cinderella said gratefully. She sits down in a chair.
"I actually want to thank you, for teaching Terra he needs to keep believing." Aqua whispered.
"Oh?" Cinderella said surprised.
The Grand Duke is walking over to Cinderella, but Lady Tremaine trips him, causing him to drop the glass slipper and break it. Everyone gasps.
"Ohhh! What will I do?" The Duke wails. Lady Tremaine smiles.
"Oh please, don't worry. You see, I have the other slipper." Ciderella pulls out the slipper and hands it to the Duke.
Lady Tremaine is openly surprised. The Grand Duke puts the slipper on Cinderella. Innis noticed that Jaq had climbed up to the stair-rail and was cheering happily.
"A perfect fit. I must inform the Prince immediately! You will come with me, of course." The Duke said.
"I'd be happy to." Cinderella replies. The two walk out the door and Aqua follows.
Innis is left on the second floor. "How do I get outside without them seeing me?" She wonders out loud. "Maybe those magic words the Fairy Godmother used will help; they got us inside after all. Now what were they?"
"Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" Innis said and she became a ball of light which went the window and landed next to Aqua before turning back into Innis. "What do you know, it worked."
"Innis, you're back." Aqua said.
"Yeah, thanks for leaving me back there Aqua." Innis said.
"Well, you left me when I fell down to the floor." Aqua shot back.
The two stared at each other before laughing.
"Okay, so I guess we're even." Innis said, "But were you really going to try the slipper on?"
"It was only to buy time." Aqua insisted, slightly embarrassed.
"Yeah, yeah." Innis said, acting like she wasn't convinced.
Aqua is about to say something else when a scream is heard.
"What's that?" Aqua says. The Duke comes running through the gates.
"What happened? Where is Cinderella?" Innis asks the frantic Duke.
"Sh-she was attacked by a creature… a monster in the forest…" He managed to get out.
"A monster?" Aqua repeats.
Aqua and Innis head toward the clearing where they see Cinderella laying on the ground in front of a large unversed that resembled a pumpkin and a carriage. Her step-mother and step-sisters stood by laughing. The unversed fires a few bombs that hit around Cinderella. Innis and Aqua rush in and protect her from the explosions.
"This is what happens when you go against my wishes!" Lady Tremaine says while laughing. A pumpkin bomb lands in front of her and her daughters. They scream as they are lost to darkness.
"The darkness in their hearts overtook them." Aqua said, she turns to Cinderella. "Go" she urged.
Cinderella stands and runs off. Aqua and Innis stand and summon their kayblades.
"This one is different from the rest," Innis commented, "It's more powerful, be careful."
"Right!" Aqua replies.
They face off against the unversed, dodging its pumpkin bombs. They hit it simultaneously until it runs away using its vine-like wheels. It then opens it mouth and tries to suck in its two opponents. Aqua and Innis barely manage to avoid it. They keep attacking using their skills as well as their magic. Finally, Aqua lands the deciding blow and the unversed collapses and disintegrates into darkness.
With the monster gone, the Duke can now safely escort Cinderella the castle, where the Prince is waiting. When they arrive the Prince runs down the stairs as Cinderella runs up them. They meet in the middle and embrace. Aqua and Innis watch as they sit on the fountain's edge in the courtyard. The Fairy Godmother appears.
"A pure heart filled with light…" Aqua says, "It's strange, The Master taught us darkness needs to be destroyed. But how, if not with light?"
"Oh, my dear, you're too young to know." The Fairy Godmother answers. "Experience more things, and you'll find the answer. Just trust in your dreams."
Aqua and Innis nod their heads. They continue to watch the scene before them. Their adventure in this world is done, but they decide to linger a little longer before moving on to the next.
That's it for chapter 2. The next world is the Dwarf woodlands, the world of Snow White.