Okay, let's see how Kairi and Minnie do on their quest!

Disclaimer: My friends say I'm obsessed and should own kingdom Hearts but sadly, I own neither Kingdom Hearts nor Final Fantasy, or even Disney! I'm just a sad fan who lives for them… (this isn't a crossover, but it refers to parts of Final fantasy that weren't in KH)

Chapter 2- Faith

As Kairi and Minnie walked hastily down the curved corridors, Minnie explained: "The king sealed all Gummi routes with Sora's last adventure as they became to dangerous to the worlds. We can no longer use them."

Kairi frowned, "then how will we search for them?"

They were in the Audience Chamber. Minnie was silent as she flipped a switch in the king's throne to reveal a secret staircase. "Hurry!" she whispered as she ushered Kairi in to the hidden room.

Inside the room, an orb shone with a radiant light right in the middle of the room. Minnie walked forward and touched it tenderly, "The hall of the Cornerstone of Light"

The bright light within the orb swirled around and Kairi suddenly felt dizzy. The room was spinning and her vision blurred till it was that of a sunset over an endless sea…

Sora! Let's go together!

Kairi woke to a pair of soft white gloves gently shaking her awake, "Kairi! Can you hear me!" asked Minnie worryingly, "are you okay?"

Kairi stood up and nodded quickly, "Yeah," she said, "just got a lot on my mind…Let's go"

Minnie looked at her with concern, "are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, but Kairi wouldn't hear it.

"I have to, we both made a promise, not just him!"

Minnie nodded and tried to put on a smile. It was hard being expected to have one always ready. She held out her hand and a swirling portal similar to the dark ones Riku used to make appeared, only this one was alive with different shades of gold.

"This is the Golden gate," Minnie said, not looking away from the swirling portal, "it uses to the Cornerstone of Light to survey other worlds. We only use it in emergency, as it's accessible by anyone- it always leads back here. We can't let anyone besides us use it, so we must open it in places others can't reach. I've asked it to take us to all the worlds the others have been to, so this will be a long journey" Minnie looked up at Kairi. She wasn't smiling, and Kairi could see the fear in her eyes as she said, "I'd hoped we'd never have to use it…"

And so they stepped into the portal that led to their first destination of their newest journey.

When the two stumbled out of the Golden gate, they found themselves in a giant glass tube. It took Kairi a moment to realize, "are we in a Lantern?" she asked.

Minnie nodded, "wonderland" she said, 'I opened to portal here so it looks like a flame, see?"

Kairi nodded, it did look that way. She climbed out with Minnie and looked around, "so, what are we looking for?'

'Well, this is where Sora tried to save the Princess Alice, Remember? So, I guess we look for her"

Kairi remembered Alice; she was the youngest of the princesses and a backup since Ursula couldn't capture Ariel to be one of the Princesses. Kairi jumped down off the giant table and waited to catch Minnie, but the queen just gracefully floated down. They looked around to find and exit, but just then, a white rabbit in a tailored suit came running through…

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…" he cried "oh my fuzzy tail and whiskers, I'm late, I'm late, I'M LATE!"

He ran through a small gold door with a big doorknob. It slammed shut, so Kairi ran over to it and tried to open it. She grabbed the Doorknob and gave it a twist-

"Ow, that HURTS!" it screamed. Kairi and Minnie jumped back, but Kairi had an idea…

she crouched down and turned on the charm, "sorry about that…we're just two girls with no sense of direction! You see, that rabbit was showing us the way to the queen, and we got lost," she could see it was working, "could you show us the way?"

The doors smiled and seemed to blush, "well, think nothing of it ladies!" he said, as he swung open. Kairi ushered Minnie into it quickly

"Hmmm…I dunno why Sora said he was stubborn!"

They walked out into a large courtyard, but the sky seemed to be the top of a box, and the walls a painted backdrop. They hid behind a rose bush and looked at the maze that stretched on beyond their view.

Minnie turned to Kairi and whispered, "that's the Queen of Hearts," gesturing to a temperamental queen on a throne, "we'd best avoid her…"

They snuck by the Card-guards and into the maze. Giant mushrooms, trees and flowers towered above them. Kairi stopped, "wait!" she said, turning to Minnie, "did you hear that? I thought I heard…singing!"

Minnie nodded, "let's follow it"

They followed the merry tune till they came to an opening in the leaves. They walked through and a cosy cottage awaited them with a large pink tea-table set out in front. At the table sat a crazy-looking man, rabbit and…

"Alice!" cried Kairi, running forward to her.

"Kairi!" the young blond cried "and who's this with you?"

'Oh, this is Queen Minnie!"

Alice gave a polite curtsy in her blue dress and apron and said sweetly "nice to meet you, your majesty". Kairi smiled, she could see why Alice was a princess

Minnie walked forward, 'hello to you too dear, have you by any chance seen another handsome mouse-he carries a keyblade?"

'Or even Sora, Donald or Goofy?" added Kairi, but Alice shook her head.

"Sorry, no. But you should talk to the Cheshire cat- he knows some strange things…"

"But Wait!" cried the crazy man, "you can't go! I'm the Mad Hatter, and the March hare and I were just about to celebrate Alice's UNBIRTHDAY!"

"Oh, yes! You must stay!" cried Alice, but Kairi shook her head.

"Sorry, I've got to go…uh, do you know the way out?"

"Through that door's the safest bet!" cried the deranged hare, as he took a bite out his teacup.

"Okay, thanks Ali-" Kairi started but she knew they weren't listening. Alice was already pulled into their crazy song…

They walked into the same room as before, but something was wrong…it was upside down! She stared at the portal on the ceiling, wondering how they'll reach it, but Minnie was more worried but the cheesy grin that was talking to them.

"Well, well! looks like we got ourselves in a bit of trouble, don't we?" said the mysterious mouth before disappearing.

Minnie called out "so, do you know how we can get up there?"

The grin reappeared, this time on the disembodied head of a purple cat. But the body soon appeared, dancing on top of the head.

Kairi gasped, "You're the Cheshire Cat! Have you seen Sora or king Mickey?"

"Sora and king, no. Shadows, yes!" he smiled, then disappeared, but his voice rang out clearly, "you better get them before they get you!"

Kairi was con fused, "what does he mean-"

"Kairi, Look!" cried Minnie as an army of Shadow heartless swarmed around them. In a flash, Kairi summoned her Keyblade and began to cut the army down to size, but they respawned. They were backed into a corner- not good.

The realization suddenly hit Minnie, "Kairi! These are not natural heartless! Sora and the others defeated those"

"Then what are these?!"

From above, they could hear the Cheshire cat's voice, "these shadows fear what makes others larger, hee heeeeeee!"

"What the-" cried Kairi, but Minnie understood. While Kairi defended her, she held onto her ring…"FAITH!"

Minnie flew into the air and an orb of pure light erupted from her ring. All the heartless dissolved in it, leaving behind bits of black dust.

'That's it!" said Minnie, landing gracefully, 'these are man-made heartless…real ones wouldn't be vulnerable to that. Shadows grow bigger in the light- these don't!"

"So, how do we leave?" asked Kairi.

"Maybe if we forced it out the lantern?"

"I'm on it!" said Kairi as he pointed her Keyblade at the lantern above her and whispered, "fire!"

A flame shot out from her Keyblade and landed in the lantern, setting it alight. The Golden Gate drifted down from it's resting place.

"Right," Kairi turned to Minnie, "let's go"

They stepped through the gate and landed back in the Hall of the Cornerstone, just as Minnie said. Kairi sat down and thought about what the Cheshire cat and Minnie had said.

"Wait," she thought out loud, "let's get the story straight: the first time the heartless appeared and I lost my heart was when Ansem first brought about the heartless. But then, the second time, we discovered it was actually his heartless and then we fought his nobody, Xemnas, Right? But then, Ansem appeared in human and told us that both Ansems were actually his apprentice Xehanort who then lost his heart and then his heartless took Ansem's name. Them the real Ansem died trying to foil Xemnas' plan…then who's doing this if all four…I mean three are dead? The experimental heartless were all destroyed!"

"Well…" said Minnie, "there's Maleficent?"

"No…" Kairi shook her head, "she disappeared protecting us" she stood up and paced a few times, "wait! We need to talk to somebody who has experience making hearts and heartless!"

Minnie sighed, "but only Ansem knew how to…"

"For research, maybe!" said Kairi with a smile, "but I bet I know somebody who does just for screams! We need to go to Halloween Town!"

Minnie looked worried, "oh dear…" as she summoned up the Golden Gate again.

Kairi smiled, "I you don't want to join me on this one, I don't mind" she said cheerfully, but Minnie refused, she was going.

Once again, they stepped through the Golden Gate but this time into a dark room plated with metal and cobwebs.

"Oh my! Kairi, look at you!" squealed Minnie, shocked at her appearance.

"Look at you!" giggled Kairi. They were dressed in Halloween outfits to suit the world: Kairi's outfit turned black with skeletal wings and a cute skull mask over one eye. Minnie, one the other hand was wearing a torn and aged wedding dress and her face was streaked with tears.

A loud creak interrupted them when the door opened and in stepped Sally.

'Oh, hello. Can I help you?"

Sally was a living rag doll with a heart of gold…even if it had stopped beating!

Kairi smiled, "hi Sally, I'm Kairi and this is Minnie. We were wondering if we could speak to Dr Finkelstein?"

"Oh, you're Sora's Friend? I hope he's okay…" said Sally politely, but Kairi felt a wave of sadness as she broke down completely. 'What's wrong?" asked Sally over Kairi's tears.

"That's just it," sobbed Kairi, "I don't even know what's wrong or where he is!"

"It's okay," soothed sally, "we'll figure this out," then she turned to stare at the big glowy thingy in the middle of her bedroom.

"Right!" said Minnie, "I almost forgot! Sally, could you lock this room so nobody goes in that…it's very important"

Sally nodded, "sure thing, now let's go see the Doctor"

They left the room and Sally locked it before slipping the key inside her wrist. They made their way up the tower to Doctor Finkelstein's lab.

Sally led them to the dome t the top of the tower where the doctor's lab was. They walked in to find Jack and Finkelstein deep in conversation. "Wait here one moment" whispered Sally before going and joining in their conversation. Kairi and Minnie looked at each other, confused, but then Jack and the others turned to them…

'Goodnight ladies and welcome to Halloween Town! I'm Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King! So I hear you're looking for your friend Sora? Well I'll be glad to help! What do you need?"

Well, actually…" Kairi didn't know where to start, "we encountered some strange heartless and we were hoping you could tell us about them"

"Ah, yes," said Finkelstein, wheeling forward on his wheelchair, "now tell me, what did they look like?"

"Just like all the others, I guess…" said Kairi with a sigh.

"But they were vulnerable to light" added Minnie, who seemed a little afraid to speak, "and they dissolved into dust when we killed them"

The doctor flipped open his head and scratch his brain, "hmmm, yes, these sound like they were man-made, though I don't know where they came from…I'll have to check my journal for this one…"

He wheeled towards his desk, but then three tiny kids, a witch, devil and skeleton, fell on him from above and in a flash stole the journal.

"Lock!" "Shock!" "Barrel!" Kairi heard them cheer as they ran out.

"Damn those wretched kids!" cursed the Doctor, rubbing his back.

"I'll go get that journal back," offered Kairi

Finkelstein nodded, "it's got everything I know bout heartless, we can't let it fall into wrong hands!"

"C'mon!" said Jack grandly, "I'll show you the way"

They made their way to Spiral Hill, where the pranksters always went after causing havoc. It was just Kairi, Minnie and Jack now. Surely enough, there were three kids in their walking tub with the journal. Jack was about to reprimand them when a tall black shape loomed up behind them.

"Wha-" cried Barrel as the black ghostly heartless swiped at him.

'This ain't mister Oogie's!" cried Shock as she ran with the journal.

"Help!!" cried lock, jumping into the tub.

Kairi summoned her Keyblade and turned to Minnie and Jack, "let's get 'em!"

The battle that ensued was hopeless: all physical attacks did nothing to the Heartless' ghostly body, and Minnie couldn't use faith from such a distance.

This isn't working!" yelled jack over the Ghost's screeching

"Wait!" Yelled Kairi, "I have a plan!" as she whispered "gravira!" and pulled the Heartless down to earth.

Jack danced his finale and trapped it in a chain of musical notes. Minnie Held her ring tight and flew up into the moonlight, "faith!"

The white light affected the creature, but it didn't dissolve, it began to vibrate. Kairi ran up to it and swiped at it with her keyblade. There was a loud Click and it dissolved into a million black butterflies, silhouetted against the full moon.

Lock, Shock and barrel came running up to them, "Here!" said Shock, handing Jack the journal, "Thanks for saving us!!"

And so the three ran off to play in the graveyard with a screeching "weeeee!" into the night.

'C'mon!" said Jack with another one of his grand gestures, "let's get this back to the Doctor!"

Back at the lab, everybody was silent as Finkelstein examined the contents of his journal. "is there any thing that can help, Doctor?" asked sally hopefully.

"Yes," replied the doctor, scratching his brain, 'it seems these are manmade heartless, but…they're very old, probably made before the heartless first came to Halloween Town! It seems what Kairi has been doing is breaking them down into whatever they were made of…' he explained, "you see, each of these were made differently, so each one is unpredictable and contradictory to the natural counterparts"

'so these must be easier to defeat and less dangerous if we can break them down like that…" said Minnie hopefully, but the doctor laughed.

"Ha! Think that and you're as good as dead!" he exclaimed, "These are even more dangerous- they've been tampered with and can react in different ways to your attacks. So, if you're not careful, you could make it invincible by attacking it!"

"Could you tell us what's causing this?" asked Kairi.

"Hmmm…I'm sorry, but I can't predict anything beyond Halloween Town…"

Kairi turned to Sally, "could you take us back to your room? I think we'd better be going…Thanks Doctor, thanks Jack!"

"Anytime ladies!!" said Jack with a bow.

Back at the room, Sally said her last farewell before the two girls walked into the Golden gate and it disappeared before her eyes.

There was a moment of darkness and Kairi and the queen were back in the blindingly whit confines of the Hall of the Cornerstone. Kairi say down again and thought over what the doctor had said but then something hit her: if she was closer to Sora than Riku was when the keyhole at the island opened, then why didn't she get caught? What was that light?

"Minnie?" asked Kairi, turning to the confused mouse, "what is that white light that you always summon up against the heartless?"

Minnie shook her head and smiled, "the same thing you used to revive Sora's heart…Love", Minnie held her ring close.

Kairi was confused, "but I think I used that when the door opened on the island and we were all separated"

Minnie nodded, "that's possible. I need this ring as a symbol to focus on, but as a princess, your power is infinite. That's why we can never let you get captured"

"Love…" whispered Kairi to herself, "princesses… hey! Didn't Ursula try to capture Ariel as a Princess? I remember Sora telling me how King Triton was the only one who already knew about other worlds!"

Minnie shook her head, "how is that possible? Our castle knows only because it's our duty you survey the other worlds…how could he know about it?"

"Well," smiled Kairi, "it's time to find out!"

End chapter

Mwa hahahaha! I had to put Atlantica in eventually! I tried to make this one a little more interesting…hope you like it! Please review, and be nice, no flames! (I never did like Axel!)

NEXT TIME: The Ancient Council revealed… Oooooh!! This could get interesting…

Eternitykeyblade