Louie removed his feathered hand from Kairi's forehead and turned to her friends and family gathered around her bed, " There's nothing wrong with her physically, as far as I can tell. You said she was clutching her heart when you walked in, right?"
Selphie nodded, on the verge of tears, her eyes attached firmly to her best friend.
"Well…It's a long shot, but L- mgff!" Huey and Dewey rushed to cover their brother's mouth and hissed at him.
"The King said not to talk about her!" Huey whispered.
"Not now anyway," Dewey backed up. Louie nodded slowly and they unclamped their hands from his beak.
"What are you guys talking about?" Tidus asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," The triplets answered in unison and went to talk quietly in a corner to each other.
Ignoring everyone else in the room, Sora stared down at Kairi, looking deep in thought. Riku went to sand next to him and brushed some hair from Kairi's forehead, "What are you thinking about?"
"I heard screaming last night," Sora answered, his eye brows furrowing, "It wasn't Kairi, the screaming was coming from one of the towers, I'm sure of it."
Riku glanced over at him, "And?"
"Something's in this castle that's connected to Kairi. I know it."
"Okay." Everyone's attention was drawn to the castle's healer who now walked back over to Kairi's bed, "I'm going to try something, but it will be painful for her, but it will help in the long run."
Ayumi glanced over to Louie and nodded firmly at him, "Al-alright…. if it will help her. Louie smiled and pulled out a staff and held it in front of him and over Kairi, taking a deep breath.
Everyone looked on worriedly, but dared not say anything in case they distract him. His brothers looked on worriedly and pulled out their own wands as if expecting something.
"Alright…here we go!" Muttering a spell, his staff started to glow a soft green and Kairi flinched in the bed then started whimpering. When the young healer made a motion with his staff she screamed, but only for a few seconds before a more peaceful look took over her face. But Louie wasn't done, and with one more stanza, he grunted and was forced to his knees. Gritting his teeth, he finished the spell and collapsed to the floor panting for breath. His brothers rushed to him but he shooed them away.
"No!" He yelled at them, "Don't touch me."
"W-what happened?" Selphie asked shocked.
The door opened and Crystal walked in, glancing from the Princess of Heart on the bed to the groaning Duck on the floor she took a deep breath and spoke, " Huey, Dewey, to the Hall, now. I'll take care of your brother. Max go bring our guests there." They nodded and ran out.
Riku and Sora went to try to help the green clad duck off the floor but Crystal stopped them, "NO! Didn't you hear him? You cannot touch him." They glanced at each other uneasily.
Crystal fell to her knees and assumed a stance as if in prayer, muttering another spell.
Everyone in the room growing restless, and becoming more confused by the second, even more so as a glowing circle of symbols became more apparent around Crystal.
"What?"
Selphie squealed in surprise, when Onyx appeared out of nowhere beside her. Crystal pointed to the Louie who now had assumed a fatal position because of his pain.
" Eh? What happened?" She asked, and then her eyes fell on Kairi, "Ooh…I see." She walked over to the duck and placed a hand on his head, "Sleep." The duck-boy collapsed out of his position, asleep.
"Wait," Wakka yelled, "Why could she touch him while no one else could?"
"Because I'm from the darkness…. There now, all better."
Louie sat up and rubbed his head, " That was pretty stupid, huh…?" He asked the twins sheepishly.
"Damn straight," Onyx reprimanded, while Crystal simply nodded her head, "But, you did your uncle proud." Louie nodded with a sad smile just as Kairi's eyes fluttered open.
"Kairi!" Ayumi cried in joy and enveloped her daughter in a bone-crushing hug.
"What happened…?"
"You tell us!" Riku smiled, "You gave everyone quite a scare young lady!"
That was a very brave thing to do…I'm glad he didn't die."Who?" Kairi muttered and just as she was about to ask the question again, she was interrupted.
"Hiro says the King would like to see everyone in the throne room," Onyx muttered randomly, as if in a trance like state, then she grinned, "Alrightly then! Everyone out, so Kairi can get ready, you are going to meet our Leidy!"
O-o-OCurrently, Leidy wasn't very active. Between screaming her lungs out and struggling against everyone and everything, she was exhausted, and was currently being held by Hiro in the Hall of the Cornerstone as she slept away. Hiro shifted the weight of the little girl in his arms and watched as King Mickey was explaining instructions to the new Princess of Heart arrivals, Alice and Aurora.
"We'll protect you the best we can, but it'd be better if you'd get it done as soon as possible."
"What exactly are we doing your Majesty?" Alice asked her proper English accent quite evident in her voice.
"Unfortunately, while any Princesses are here, your hearts resonate with the Cornerstone, which right now is bein' tainted by the evil spirit trapped within it."
"Why is it so strong to our Hearts? How in the world is it connected to us?"
"Because, it's a heart itself."
Zidane appeared from the staircase and headed for the king and bowed when he reached him, "Kairi's woken up, King Mickey. Louie did it."
Mickey's eyes widened, "Really? Is he okay? What about Kairi?"
"They're both fine your Majesty, would you like to start now?"
Mickey nodded and motioned to Hiro who nodded back and leaned against the wall, closing his brown eyes.
"What happened to Kairi?" They may have only seen her once; but Alice and Aurora knew her and her name by instinct after their release from Hollow Bastion.
"Her bond with the Cornerstone became too strong and she suffered the same symptoms
as Leidy over there," Mickey motioned at the sleeping girl, "But it seems that Louie actually disconnected that bond. Well, sorta."
"Sort of?"
"He took the darkness causin' her pain and took it out. Though he wasn't quite strong enough to get rid of it and it must have possessed him."
"You seem to know a lot about this procedure, though you weren't there," Zidane observed curiously.
"Of course I do," Mickey stated calmly, "I've seen Donald do it twice."
O-o-OQueen Minnie sat on the throne in the Audience Chamber looking drained and completely exhausted, Lady Daisy standing faithfully beside her, looking equally tired, and slightly irritated, but ready to do her job.
"You cast Panacea…?" Minnie took a deep breath and put a hand to her head.
The green clad duck suddenly found his shoes quite interesting, "Yes, ma'am."
" Louie, I'm aware you specialize in earth and white magic, but really, Panacea?"
"Uncle Donald could do it!" He protested, "I didn't see why I-"
"Donald is a level seven Black mage!" Daisy snapped, her hands on her hips, "A level away from a sorcerer! There is a reason he can cast the spell without collapsing."
Louie shut his beak and stood stiffly eyes staring straight ahead.
"Daisy," The Queen intervened softly, "Let's not be too hard on him, besides, if not for him, we would not be able to do what we're about to do."
Daisy nodded hesitantly and let out a fast stream of air, closing her eyes.
"Queen Minnie?" Sora called from the doorway, luckily he was to far away to hear any of the previous conversation, "We're here."
O-o-ODenzel moped around the newly rebuilt streets of Radiant Garden. He was a handsome boy, with sweeping blond hair and nice sea foam eyes; he was also pretty tall for his age.
Suddenly he stopped, staring oddly at the strange sight before him, a woman, completely decked out in black stood with a large scythe in her hands and a hand over her heart with her eyes closed. As he watched her expression quickly turned from relaxed to annoyed.
Denzel knew it was probably stupid but he called out anyway, as a precaution, he wrapped his hand around the handle of a slightly smaller and lighter version of Cloud's Buster Sword strapped to his back, "Hey!" The woman's eyes shot open and her mouth hung in the shape of a small 'o'. She dropped her weapon and it vanished as if it had never even been there.
She turned to face him, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
"O-oh, yes?'
"What are you doing?" Denzel asked suspiciously, stepping gradually closer, tightening his grip on his weapon.
The woman's face took on a forlorn look, "I'm lost." She admitted, "You wouldn't happen to know where Merlin lives, do you?"
The blond considered her for a moment and answered slowly, "Who are you and what do you want with Merlin?"
"I'm sorry! How rude of me, my name is Onyx. I'm from Disney Castle, and I have some things to deliver to Leon and a Marlene?"
"King Mickey sent you?" He let go of the sword.
She smiled and showed him her pendent proudly, "Uh-huh."
"They're not expecting you for another three hours or so," Denzel brooded, still glancing at her oddly.
Onyx didn't seem to notice, or just ignored it, "Oh. So why are you out here?"
Denzel's face heated up and he looked away, "If you must know, I'm looking for a gift for Marlene's birthday."
Onyx smiled knowingly, "And you don't know what to get her?"
The fourteen year old was silent, too proud to admit it.
"How about this, if you help me find Merlin's house, I'll help you find a gift, just to get an idea from a girl's point of view. What do you say?" She held out her hand to seal the agreement.
He stared at her hand for a moment, and then nodded, shaking her hand with his own, "Alright, it's a deal."
O-o-O
Dr. Rhoda Dendron was shoved roughly into a large, dark room, with only an obsevsation window high on the other side of the room. There were four other people in the room, many dressed in the standard white lad coats issuded to people of study indicating that, at least, the majorty of the people in the room were scientists. The only other female in the room rushed to help the duck-woman to her feet and smiled at her warmly, dissmissing what to her must have been an odd appearance.
"Quite rude, aren't they." The red headed woman stated.
"Quite," Rhoda muttered crossly, then remembering her manners, held out a feathered hand to the other woman, "Dr. Rhoda Dendron, and you are?"
The woman grasped the hand in her own a shook it, "Dr. Jean Anne-Marie Possible (Sorry, I had to make up a name for her, but it's Kim Possible's mother)."
"Do you know where we are?"
Dr. Possible shook her head, "No idea. One moment I was cleaning up after a procedure and the next I was here."
A man standing in the darkest corner of the room snapped at them and ajusted his circular framed glasses, "Will you shut up, you silly women."
About to retort, Dr. Dendron was intterupted when a cold, female metallic voice filled the room from some invisible intercome, "Welcome," She greeted, though she sounded anything but welcoming, "You may be wondering why you are here. You, as you must undoubtedly know, are some of the most brillent scientific minds in the worlds …We need you to preform a few little experiments, modled after the late Ansem the Wise and Xehanort's experimentations and research… And don't worry, more will be joining you soon; Dr. Doppler, Dr. Jean Ann Possible, Dr. Jumba Jookiba, Dr. Rhoda Dendron, and Professor Hojo."
O-o-O
A field, filled with brightly colored flowers, and as he stood he could see a rook platform above him but when he looked behind him, he gasped and stumbled, gaping wildly at what lay before him.
Waterfalls that shaped the valley into a semi circle that seemed to disappear into the field and feed the river that flowed into a great lake. Above the water-body hung a large bluish orb, surrounded by a dark aura, and many large pillars that grew from the water reached into the cloudy pinkish-blue sky. The lake was surrounded by rocky formations that were connected to the land that the waterfalls fell from, though these were bone dry.
"Where…where am I?" He cried looking around at his surroundings franticly, wondering how he arrived in this strange place at all.
You do not belong here…but you may stay…for the time being.
Whirling around, he came face to face with a woman, milky pale red eyes stared back at him, unseeing, the pale face framed by long snow-white hair. Her total paleness gave the boy an image of a ghost.
Do not fear, My Keyblade Master.
Though he clearly heard a voice, her lips did not move and the boy backed away, not comforted by her words, "Who the hell are you?"
She turned away, and sat in the field her white dress pooling around her legs.
You are at the Farplane. The place where spirits come when their life ends.
She chuckled when she saw the look on the boy's face, even though she seemed as if she was doing it herself, no sound came from her lips, but rather from around him.
Fear not. You are not dead. You have simply arrived for a short stay. I believe you are tired being tucked away; you do not like just being no one again, hm?
The boy sunk to the ground, and nodded, "I…I want to be my own person again. I'm glad I could help him, but I want to be… me. You know?"
Somehow, he knew she would understand, and he took comfort in this, and talking became easier.
"I don't want to see through his eyes anymore, feel his feelings, I want my own…I just want a life of my own. I want to feel on my own."
What if I said I could grant your wish? What would you do? Where would you go?
"Anything," He answered, his voice thick with emotion, " Anywhere, I'd do anything to be my own person."
Well, Roxas, you will soon know what that is like. Though, when you do…I am not sure you will like what will follow.