Chapter Seven
Disney Castle, Scene II,
Pride Lands, Act I, Scene I
Sora once again found himself in the dungeons. He'd elected to go alone, but seeing as his friends were the way they are, it hadn't been an easy fight. Sora tried to remember the route they'd taken before, but his memory felt unusually dull in the pitch-black corridors. The flashlight barely made a dent in the darkness, and more than once he tripped over a ragged stone and scraped his palms.
If he'd been afraid of the dark…
Once the Keyblade master and his friends reported back to the Queen, she was overjoyed to hear Sora's theory. With her blessing, as well as Yen Sid's (who couldn't see any harm in trying, though he did look wary as Sora had explained it to him), they'd sent him off right away.
Sora didn't exactly feel good trying out his experiment on the King. What if it failed and Mickey ended up dead? Sora's heart began beating faster with anxiety.
Eventually, he found himself in the very pit of the dungeon, sweeping the dim light around the hallway.
"Hello?" He called, voice echoing. "Your Majesty?"
Listening closely and keying out his heart's feeling of foreboding, Sora could barely hear the breath of a person deep in sleep. He turned to take a step, but his body wouldn't obey him.
I can't just attack him! He's defenseless!
Fighting his own instincts, he crossed the few yards between the King's cell and his previous position. The heavy door was unlocked, and it opened easily. He summoned one of his Keyblades, reaching Mickey's unconscious form…
Out of absolute nowhere, something small and black-hooded jumped onto his back. It happened so quickly Sora didn't even get a chance to scream.
He had to act fast. He wasn't sure at first if it was the King who was attacking him or a Mindless. Sora grabbed a part of the creature, discovering it was a very small wrist. He picked up the flashlight he'd dropped, and shone it in the creature's eyes. It was indeed King Mickey, wriggling in an attempt to escape, and glaring at him. His eyes were tinged purple, the exact violet that a Mindless was.
Please, let this work…Sora prayed silently, turning off the flashlight and summoning his Keyblade again. With reluctance twisting at him, he jabbed the weapon directly into the King's heart, twisting towards the right. A bright flash lit the tiny room for a moment, and then there was nothing. Mickey had stopped wriggling in attempts to escape and had evidently gone limp.
Sora laid the small form onto the ground, panicking. I killed him! He took one of Mickey's tiny wrists to check for a pulse, almost in tears.
The small hand squeezed his back. A mixture of utter shock and relief struck the Keyblade master at once.
"Mickey!" Sora gasped, forgetting formalities. "You're okay!"
"Well, of course I'm okay…" the King replied, dazed. "Sora, where are we?"
Sora almost threw his arms around King Mickey. He almost jumped up to start dancing in victory. But instead, he just smiled widely. "It's a long story. Don't you remember?"
"No. All I remember is waking up right now." The King glanced around. "…Why are we in the dungeons?"
Sora stood up, gathering the flashlight from its spot on the floor. "Come on. I'll tell you everything."
--
As they walked back to where Minnie and the others were waiting, Sora told the King their entire story so far- how they'd received Mickey's SOS note, the journey from Radiant Garden to here, all about the Mindless, and Sora's theory (now proven true) of unlocking one's heart to let out the inner light. Sora didn't tell Mickey that he had been the test subject- said Keyblade master couldn't get over the guilt- but was pleased when the King's shattered memory started to piece together.
"How did you figure it out?" King Mickey asked.
"I don't know… somehow, it just clicked. I don't know why I didn't figure it out until now." It felt weird explaining everything to the person who had acted as their guide.
"I can't believe I was one of them…"
The Keyblade master nodded curtly. "You told us to get away from you. That you would hurt us if we didn't- and it wasn't a threat."
"That's something I would say."
Sora turned to him, feeling anxious again. "Nothing's missing from your memory, right?"
"Not that I can think of."
Queen Minnie waited just ahead. Mickey ran straight to her and threw his arms around his wife.
Sora smiled slyly and strode over to where his friends were waiting. "The King's fine now," he informed them, feeling a little smug.
Riku smiled a little. "Good."
"Are you sure he's okay?" Kairi asked, tugging on Sora's hand.
Sora looked down. "Yeah. But the Mindless are a lot more… feral when they have a body."
"Did the King attack you?" Riku questioned.
"Yes… he didn't hurt me, though. But his eyes were tinged the same color the Mindless are." Sora drew an invisible ring in front of his own eye.
"I guess that's another thing to look out for," Riku murmured. He smiled. "Now we know how to kill Mindless without harming their host." He patted Sora's shoulder. "Good job."
Kairi beamed at Sora. "Yeah. Good going."
Sora blushed. "Thanks."
Riku rolled his eyes and turned to leave. "I'm going to go talk to the King. You two play nice."
Kairi blushed, too. She linked her arms through Sora's. "So… do you want to… go for a walk?"
"I'd love to…" he stuttered.
--
Several hours later on the gummi ship, Sora was growing bored. When he gets bored, he turns into hyper Sora, which would honestly be the highlight of my day to write, but it's out of place in a story like this. Ha ha.
Riku was buried in some magazine, Kairi was staring out the window in rapt, Donald was busy, and Goofy was asleep.
"Heey Rikuu…" Sora said slowly.
"Yeah?" He didn't even look up.
"Are we there yet?"
"I don't know. Ask Donald."
"He won't tell me."
Riku sighed, aware that Sora was only asking him to entertain himself. "Donald, are we there yet?"
"No!" The duck snapped.
"There you have it, Sora."
The Keyblade master rocked back and forth his seat for a few minutes. "So… whatcha reading?"
"An article. A very important article." I.e., go away, Riku thought.
"What's it about?"
"None of your business."
Sora tried to peer over the older boy's shoulder and read it, but Riku quickly moved away. After a few more unsuccessful tries, Riku was getting fed up.
"Oh, go annoy your girlfriend or something," he hissed.
"She's looking out the window with this expression." Quickly he widened his eyes and plastered an awestruck expression on his face.
Riku snorted.
Sora made a grab for the magazine. And Riku let out a cry of agitation. "What is it with you and my magazine?"
"I'm bored!" Sora cried.
"Donald, he's bothering me!" Riku yelled.
"Riku, we're not in kindergarten."
"Shut up! Will the two of you shut up!" Donald shouted at them. "I will turn this ship around this instant if you don't be quiet!"
Riku and Sora instantly burst into laughter, forgetting their spat.
"You just sounded like my mom," Riku choked between peals of laughter.
Donald chuckled despite himself. "Hey, I have three nephews." There was a little beeping sound from the complicated set of controls. "We're here."
Goofy jumped out of his sleep. "What?"
"We're here."
"Where exactly is 'here'?" Sora asked while shaking Kairi out of her trance.
"Pride Lands," Donald told him.
"Cool!" He was almost jumping up and down.
"'Pride Lands'?" Riku was confused.
"Simba lives here," Goofy explained.
"We get to be lions!" Sora chattered on excitedly.
"Lions…? Are you sure the King didn't hit you over the head or something…?"
"He's actually right," Goofy said. "We need to blend in with the other animals."
"You mean people, right?"
Donald snorted. "Unfortunately."
"Shit," Riku muttered.
"I will not tolerate bad words on my ship!" Donald shouted, once again going into 'Mister Mom' mode.
"Well, technically, I'm not on your ship anymore," Riku pointed out as he stepped onto the ground.
Sora began to hyperly jump around in his new feline state. "Whee!"
"He really wasn't kidding," Riku murmured, examining his new tail. He was slightly bigger than the other two, with dark gray fur. Like Sora, he still had his human hair, but because it was girlishly long, looked even weirder.
"I feel funny," Kairi commented. She was about the size of kitty Sora. Her fur was light brown, and she also had her hair. "Where'd Donald go?" she asked just as the mage's staff hit her head lightly. "Ow!"
"Sorry!"
"Kairi…? What are you doing?" Goofy asked. Kairi had crouched back, growling at him.
She would have blushed is she could've. "I don't know. I wasn't doing it on purpose."
"Listening to your instincts," Sora said in a whispery way. He managed to trip over his tail.
Riku facepalmed. Er… facepawed. "You're hopeless." He muttered.
Sora crouched back like Kairi had and bared his teeth. "Rawr," he mock growled.
Riku sat up. He began licking one of his paws and using it to clean his face. He didn't realize what he was doing until everyone stared at him. "What? I'm a cat, okay?"
"No, you're a mighty LION!" Sora yelled, pouncing into the air. Kairi tackled him midair and began pawing at his tail.
Donald and Goofy laughed awkwardly. "We should find Simba."
Sora sat up. "Oh yeah. Didn't Nala have her baby?"
Kairi immediately got that dreamy look girls get when babies are mentioned. "A baby cub! Awww!"
Sometimes I wonder why I hang out with these guys, Riku thought, following the rest of them over to Pride Rock.
