A/N: And here we've come to the last of my stockpiled entries for this story! Don't worry though, I plan to update this around the same time as I update it on my DeviantART page, and since I have this fanfic mapped out more than the My Hero Academia one, it'll probably be updated a lot quicker.
Also, I blame my friend, PetrolPatrol, for having me gain a soft spot for Isa with her KH fanfic. Still don't like Siax at this point, but I do like him as he is in Birth By Sleep. The fox plush will come into play later on!
Chapter 2 - Radiant Gardens
When they landed, the two keyblade wielders looked around. They were in what looked to be the middle of a castle town. "Huh?" Keke looked over and saw a familiar mouse walking down one of the roads away from them, "Ven, look!"
"Mickey?" He questioned just before they ran after him. They ended up running up a few flights of stairs until they came to a platform with a door, and two men standing guard over it. As Ventus ran toward it with Keke not too far behind, the men stopped him.
"Hold on."
"The castle is presently closed."
"But somebody just came this way!" Ventus stated.
"Yeah!" Keke caught up, "He's a friend of our's."
The guards looked at each other before turning back to them, "We aren't aware of any visitors. Now run along home, boy, before the monsters get the two of you."
"But..." Keke looked down, "I thought I saw him come this way..."
Ventus sighed and looked down at the younger girl, "Come on, we can try looking somewhere else."
"Okay..." They turned around to leave when they saw a huge Unversed flying toward them.
"They're here." One of the guards stated as he and the other began to walk toward it.
"Radiant Garden shall not fall to the likes of you."
Ventus turned to Keke, "Keke!"
"Right!" They ran forward, chasing after the now fleeing Unversed.
"Leave this to us!"
"Stop!"
"But you're just children!" the guards shouted after them and were about to chase after them when a voice called them back, but by then, Keke and Ventus were long gone.
As they returned back tot he square, they saw the Unversed attacking a duck in a top hat, "Ach! How dare ye! Back off, ye fiend!" he shouted, waving his cane at it. "Ye'll not be gettin' my money!"
"Look out!" Ventus shouted as he threw his keyblade at the Unversed and Keke sent a light spell at it, causing it to flee again. The two began to chase after it again.
"Hold on... Wait a moment, laddie. You too, lass." The duck said. "Don't I even get a chance to repay ye?'
"Oh, you don't have to." Ventus said.
"Now, just hold yer horses." The duck came after them, "I dinna mean me fortune. Maybe a wee bit o' gold, or a small token of..."
"Well, could you make it fast?" Ven said, obviously wanting to go.
"Yeah, mister, we're in a bit of a hurry..." Keke nodded.
"I know- I've got just the thing in me hat!" He took his top hat off and chuckled, "C'mere you two." They came over, and Ventus bent down a bit, "Ye can tell me, lad. You two came here from another world, didn't ye?" He laughed at their surprised reactions, "Dinna worry. Me bill is sealed. Yer secret's safe with me. I'll not be askin' either of ye any awkward questions. Ye see, 'tis the same with me. I asked a wizard, Merlin, to take me here from another world. After all, adventure is the mother of industry!"
"Great! That all?" Ventus said after a moment, realizing he was done talking.
"Ach, but I'm holding ye and the lass up, lad." the duck said, reaching into his hat, "Here." he held out four passed, "These are lifetime passes to Disney Town. Ye'll have buckets o' fun there, or my name is not Scrooge McDuck. There ye are - enough for the two o' you and two grownups." he handed one to Keke and gave the remaining three to Ventus, who looked over them.
Ventus then looked to Scrooge, "Thank you sir." before he and Keke ran off, "I hope that Unversed didn't get too far..."
"Yeah, but it was nice of that guy to give us those passes. I thought us, Mickey, and the others were the only ones who could travel between worlds."
"I guess if you have the right abilities or items, you can." he nodded as they ran through the town, eventually catching up to the point where they could see it. Eventually, they came to a spot where it stopped along with two other Unversed and their pursuers.
"Ven?! Keke?!" Terra and Aqua said, surprised as they saw them.
"Twrra, Aqua!" Ven and Keke responded similarly. The three looked up and saw the Unversed begin to combine into one, and summoned their keyblades. They began to fight it while trying to dodge it's attacks.
"This thing won't go down!"
"Just how strong is it?!"
"Uh, guys?" Keke spoke up.
"Hold on, maybe there's a spell I can use!"
"Dos anyone have a potion!?"
"Guys?"
"Look out for that beam attack!"
"Has anyone seen it use a healing ability?!"
"Guys!"
"What?!" They looked to Keke.
"What if the reason it's not going down is because it's just three combined into one? What if we have to wear down each part before it goes down!?"
"..." The three looked at each other before Aqua nodded, "Well, it's worth a shot."
"Yeah."
"All right, let's go!" They ran back out and began to attack each part if it before it finally seemed weaker than it had been before, and only one part of it remained.
"Terra!"
"Ven, now!"
"Come on, Keke!"
"On it!"
The three rushed forward to finish it off. Aqua and Keke jumped and attacked first with Terra and Ventus following suit. The Unversed vanished and they ran toward each other.
"Got 'em." Terra smiled.
"We make a good team." Aqua said.
"Sure do." Ventus nodded.
"We kicked butt!" Keke laughed a bit. She then turned to Ventus, "Ven, give it to them."
"Huh? Oh, right! We got you these tickets." Ventus took out the remaining two passes.
"For what?"
Ventus began to hand them to them, "Lifetime passes to Disney Town. He said to-" He stopped and sighed, "He said to take two grownups..." he said, dryly.
"You mean us?" Aqua asked, looking to Terra. The two of them laughed and pocketed the passes. She turned to Keke, "Keke, what are you doing here? I thought you were with the Master back home."
"Well, uh.. he sent me to train with Master Yen Sid and his student, then his student, Mickey, and I, we... uh... left?" She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with the older wielders, "We found Ven, and then we got separated from Mickey and wound up here...Surprise?" She shrugged, smiling nervously.
"You two listen to me." She sighed, "We need to get you home."
"It's okay, Aqua! Trust me, that guy in the mask is history. He'll never bad-mouth Terrra or threaten Keke again."
"Yeah, we showed him last time!"
"You two saw the boy in the mask?" Terra jolted toward them and grabbed Ventus's shoulder as Keke shrieked behind Ventus, not used to seeing Terra act this seriously.
"Y-yes?" Ventus stuttered, surprised at this reaction.
Terra looked away, muttering, "Vanitas..." He let go and backed up, "Ven. Keke. You two let Aqua take you home."
"No way. I wanna go with you guys."
"Yeah, you can't just leave us out to dry like that."
"You can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us. I don't want either of you to get hurt."
"And what is this dangerous task, Terra?" Aqua spoke up, "It doesn't sound like what the Master told you to do."
"It might be a different route, but I'm fighting the darkness."
"I'm not so sure. I've been to the same worlds as you and I've seen what you've done. You shouldn't put yourself so close to the darkness."
"Listen to yourself, Aqua. Terra would never-" Ventus said but was cut off.
"You mean you've been spying on me? Is that what he said to do? The Master's orders?"
"He was only-"
"Aqua..." Ventus sighed.
Keke looked between them, not understanding most of it, yet she was afraid. She had never seen things be so tense between them as they were now. Not understanding what to do, she quickly ran off, hearing them shout after her, though they didn't pursue.
~*~KH – BBS~*~
As Keke ran, she had unknowingly begun to cry, "Huh?" she wiped her eyes, "Why am I...?" she stopped running, realizing she was in the middle of the town. She went to lean against the wall, sitting down as she caught her breath. Why did she run? She didn't know. The things she heard Terra and Aqua say, they confused and frightened her. Keke buried her head in her arms, leaning against her knees. "What a mess..."
"Are you okay, kid?" Keke looked up and saw a boy around Ventus's age with red hair spiked up in the back. A boy the same age with blue hair stood behind him. "Hey, I asked if you were okay. Can ya talk?"
"Oh, um... I guess I'm okay..."
"Well that's good. You were sitting so still, I thought you were a statue." He smiled.
"Lea, come on." The blue haired boy stated.
"Just a sec, Isa. Come on, have some sort of compassion. She looks upset."
"Not everyone likes to be late to things."
"Well it's not like we have a small time frame, I'm sure we'll have enough time to help her out!"
"Fine..." he sighed, though showed a small hint of a smile.
"So, kid, what's your name?" Lea asked.
"Keke."
"Keke? Heh, what, do you have a brother name Lock?" Lea laughed as Keke looked up at him confused, "Get it? Because your name is basically the word "key" twice, and keys go hand-in-hand with locks?" When he realized she still wasn't laughing, he calmed down, "Wow, you're as tough of a crowd as Isa and the castle guards are. It's a joke."
"Oh..." Keke looked down, making Lea frown.
"Normally, kids around your age would be laughing their butts off at jokes like that. Is something wrong?"
"Well... um..." Keke thought for a moment, "My friends are fighting..."
"Oh?"
She nodded, "Yeah... they started talking like everything was really bad, and- and... I dunno... It's like everything became serious and tense... like they didn't like each other anymore... I didn't understand most of what they were saying, but the tones in their voices... it scared me..."
Lea nodded and was about to say something when Isa walked over after talking with a moogle. He held out a plush fox that was black with purple markings and blue eyes. "Huh? Why'd you get that, Isa?"
"Oh hush." he snapped at Lea, then turned to Keke, "Sometimes, friends just fight, but it doesn't mean they're not friends later on. They might just need to take a break and sort everything out on their own, and until they do, you can have this little guy to keep you company."
"A-are you sure?"
"Yes, just take the fox before I change my mind..."
Lea laughed, "Wow, I never knew you could be a softie for kids."
"I'm not. I just know how to read people better than you."
"Hey!" Lea laughed a bit.
Keke stared down at the fox before turning back to Isa, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." he nodded.
"Anyway, do ya have any parents? I'd kinda feel bad about just leaving you here alone."
"No... but I do have one friend who isn't fighting, as far as I know."
"Great! We'll take you to him!" Lea helped her up. "What does he look like?"
"Um.. he's dressed kinda like me, and he has spiky blond hair, and he's around your height."
"All right! Let's go!" he smiled. They walked toward the square when they saw a wooden keyblade Keke recognized. Lea went and picked it up, "This your's?"
"Ven!" Keke smiled.
"Lea." Isa said as he saw the smirk appear on the red head's face.
"Just a sec, Isa." he said and turned toward Ventus, "You still play with toy swords? That's cute." he gave it back to Ventus who seemed annoyed with him from that comment, "Now this right here... Ta-da!" he pulled out two frisbees, "Whaddaya think?!"
Ventus looked away, "Not a whole lot."
"You're just jealous. I'm Lea. Got it memorized?" he pointed to his head. "What's your name?"
"Ventus."
"Based on how you look, you're the friend Keke was talking about. We found her crying, and here you are, sulking instead of trying to find her. You're worse than Isa."
"Don't bring me into this!"
"Eh, don't worry Ventus, he's probably a worse friend than you. Anyway, let's fight!"
Ventus seemed surprised, "Fight? Why would I wanna do that?"
"You scared of loosing?" Lea taunted. "Come on. Hope you're ready!" Ventus sighed, but then smiled and got up. "Yeah! Now we're talking!"
"You're gonna be sorry!"
Isa sighed as they watched, "Here we go again... First that Squall guy, and now your friend? Lea just can't seem to stop picking pretend fights with random people..."
Keke laughed a bit, "I haven't seen Ven smile like this in a while."
"Is that so?" Isa looked at the four year old and then smiled a bit, "Lea has that way with people... sometimes. Otherwise, he's just fighting for the heck of it." Isa said as was knocked backwards.
"You... had enough? 'Cause I'm willing to... call if a draw if you are." Lea said, out of breath.
"Huh?" Ventus seemed surprised at this and smiled, "Right."
Isa walked forward with Keke in tow, "From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big L on your forehead for 'Looser'... 'Lame', 'Laughable'..."
"Wha- Isn't this the part where ya... cheer me up or somethin'?" Lea looked up at him, "'You're just having a bad day' or 'That's what you get for pulling your punches'! Some friend..."
"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie."
Lea lied down and then looked up at Keke and Ventus, "Ya see what I gotta put up with? Sure hope you don't have friends like him." They laughed.
"Lea, we have to go." Isa said.
"'Kay." He got up.
"Already?"
"I'll see ya when I see ya. After all, the three of us are friends now. Get it memorized." he smirked.
"Okay, Lea." Ventus nodded.
"And you, no crying anymore, okay?" Lea ruffled Keke's hair, making her giggle.
"All right." She nodded as Lea and Isa walked off.
"Must be nice... knowin' who your friends are." Ventus said.
"Hey, what does that make me?" Keke frowned and looked up at him.
"Um... well... I didn't mean it like that..." he sighed. "I'm sorry... Anyway, Terra said we couldn't come with him and Aqua wants us to go home."
"But we can't without Mickey."
"I know, and..." he smiled, "I never said we were."
She smiled and nodded.
