Aura's new look:
www.fav.me/d6zt7ll

Aura's weapon; Harmonic Wave:
www.fav.me/d6crpql

Mai:
www.fav.me/d6zubpc

A/N:
I might possibly get this story done with 15 chapters!

Chapter Eleven

ȶ

Fantasia

It didn't take long to find Pete scheming away inside the opera house, and the three teens tiptoed around him to try and get a better view of his plans. They found out that Pete wanted to drop a giant crate on Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and Riku gasped when he saw Pete trying out his plan with a couple of wooden cut-outs of the three musketeers. They were able to free Minnie from being trapped inside a treasure chest, and caught all three of the Beagle Boys to get a gadget that would hinder Pete's plan.

Along the way, Riku, Aura and Mai encountered a Dream Eater set on attacking Riku, and the other two girls had to hide for cover. Mai wanted to help Riku, but Aura explained that it was something he had to do on his own. She didn't quite get it, but she trusted Aura enough to listen to her. Fighting the Dream Eater wasn't such a hard task for Riku, and Aura could tell that he was getting better at fighting. She was excited to see Riku become a Keyblade master, and hoped for the best that Marie would become one as well—of course, she didn't know where the girl was, but if she knew both Riku and Sora sought out to become masters, then Marie would follow in their steps. After fighting off the Dream Eater, Minnie came out of hiding from the stage and found the three teens. She saw Mai holding the gadget, and quickly told them to put it inside the machine. Riku grabbed the gadget from Mai and walked up to the switch, and put it in place. He turned it around a couple of times, and the gears of the machine turned—they all heard Pete's voice from the other side, and Riku smiled. He knew Sora was on that other side in the parallel world—Minnie was glad that the three musketeers were safe, and Riku asked what a musketeer was. She told them what their pledge was, and both Riku and Aura gasped as they heard it.

"All for one… and one for all," repeated Aura. She laughed at the words, knowing from Marie's memory that she, Sora, Donald and Goofy said these words when they first met. Riku gave out a little laugh as well, and took out his Keyblade to awaken the world from its slumber. Mai watched in amazement as he used his Keyblade, and something inside her felt its familiarity. A shift in her body grew, and she grabbed her head.

"Mai? What's wrong?" Aura asked as she walked up to Mai concerned. Mai groaned a bit, and stopped grabbing her head. She looked at Aura for a moment, and a flashback of her standing next to a flame-headed man appeared in her mind.

"L-lea… Lea, where are you?" she asked. Aura gasped when she heard the name—Lea, or better known as Axel to her. Riku wasn't able to hear her words, but a bright light appeared around Mai as she disappeared. Riku gasped and ran up to them, but Mai was already gone.

-Meanwhile-

"As you can see, the Organization's members are complete people again. Xehanort will be no different," Yen Sid said as he sat in front of Axel… or Lea, as he was a complete being again. The flame-headed man came to them when he rescued Mickey from his castle. Maleficent was trying to recapture it, but thankfully, Lea was able to make it in time. He knew that if he was a complete being then that meant everyone else was, too. "We cannot afford another moment's hesitation. We must consider any strategy to outwit Xehanort and catch him off guard."

"Gwarsh, what about Aura? Do you think she'd be able to catch Xehanort off guard?" Goofy asked. Lea's eyes widened at the mention of the brown-haired woman, and quickly looked at the three of them before looking back at Yen Sid.

"Aura is… still Aura?" he asked. Yen Sid shook his head, and instead explained the miracle that happened with her. Lea was incredibly surprised at how Aura was able to obtain her own heart knowing that Marie was still around, but he was relieved to know that she was still around and kicking. "Where is she?"

"Right now, I do not know, however, she should be with either Sora or Riku helping them progress through the dream world," Yen Sid explained. "Her main objective, however, is to find the source of an anomaly I've detected. This could be Xehanort himself, or perhaps someone with similar intentions, but she must make haste."

"Don't worry… I'll let her know," Lea replied. Finally, he was a complete being and so was Aura. There was no doubt—something in the stars predicted their union and he was finally going to see her again… and this time, he wasn't going to let her go.

-Meanwhile-

Aura and Riku stepped into the next world, and they immediately met with a flood inside the mysterious tower. Aura sighed out of frustration, mainly because she was getting her shoes wet, and the socks with it. She didn't like the feeling it produced so she and Riku quickly ran up the stairs towards the main floor, and when they entered the room they found Mickey surrounded by a dark mist.

"The musical score—it has him trapped," he said. Aura looked at the dark mist, and mentioned how it looked similar to the mist that surrounded Mai. Riku nodded, wondering if there was a connection between them. He brought out his keyblade, but they heard Mickey's voice tell them that they couldn't defeat the darkness with brute force. He asked them who they were, and once they introduced themselves, opted to help Mickey.

Mickey produced a music stand with a booklet on it; he explained how inside of it was a Sound Idea, and that it was powerful enough to dispel the darkness. "Can ya find it?" Mickey asked.

"We'll try!" Riku replied. Aura asked if they could use it on someone who had the same mist surrounding them, but Mickey wasn't sure. If the mist surrounding Mai was created by the monster trapping Mickey, then yes, but Aura doubted that was the case. Still, it was worth a try, but Aura found it weird that anything darkness related was surrounding someone who greatly resembled Marie. Not only that, but Mai remembered much of what Marie remembered, such as Lea, Donald, Goofy and Mickey. Why did she remember Axel as Lea? That was something that bothered her; it was as if Mai knew something that they didn't. She shook her head and followed Riku inside the book, who noticed the brunette's sudden change in attitude. They found themselves in a forestry-like area, and walked around to scout it. Mimi popped out of Aura's hat for some fresh air, and to see her surroundings, but even she noticed something wrong in Aura. She curled up next to her and caressed her cheek with her own cheek, and Aura smiled slightly at the gesture. She brought her hand towards Mimi's face, and the Dream Eater snuggled within it.

They kept walking for a little while, but their atmosphere changed and the surrounding area turned pitch black. Riku gasped and brought up his guard, while Aura jerked her head around to see if there was anybody near. Getting them both completely off guard, the floor began to crumble, and it caved beneath them. They fell through it and found out there was an underground area, and they floated until they found a spot to land—but once they did, they met with the same silver-headed kid in the black coat.

"You waiting for us?" Riku asked as he stood his ground. He walked a little ahead of Aura to keep her safe, but she was fine on her own. The boy replied saying he was waiting for Riku—the boy chosen by the Keyblade. He seemed confused, but the boy explained how he was chosen first—but he succumbed to the darkness that he couldn't control, and the Keyblade passed on to Sora. All of his mistakes ended up being other people's problems, and Aura grew angry that this kid was attacking Riku in such a way. Riku didn't care, because he was there to change all of it.

"Once again, you performed predictably, although on a grander scale than I imagined," he replied. Riku didn't have time for his talk, and asked him what he was really after. The boy simply told him that someone who was so immune to darkness proved useless to him. He turned to Aura, who glared back, and chuckled. "Yet, there is still hope for you."

"Bite me." she scoffed and crossed her arms. "There's no way I'm balancing on that line again, so forget it," she told him. He simply stared at them both, and told them that their abyss was waiting before disappearing. Out appeared a monster that Aura remembered seeing—Chernabog. Gravity was lost in the area, and so the two teens floated around. However, Chernabog flapped his wings a little too hard—which made Aura fly back a bit. She got the hint that it was a battle that Riku had to fight, and stood—or floated—on the sidelines and watched him fight the beast. She couldn't get what Mai said out of her head, what did she mean by 'where are you, Lea?' and why was he called Lea when he passed on as Axel. The welling in her eyes started appearing, and she clutched her chest as she tried not to think about it. Truly, seeing Axel disappear from her eyes that moment really destroyed a piece of her—she really cared for him… maybe even loved him. However, he was gone, and no matter how much she wanted him back, he was gone.

No… there was something inside her heart that told her that he was still around, but maybe that was it—he was in her heart, holding a special place. She sighed and held Mimi a bit tight, but a bright light surrounded her as she and Mimi disappeared from the underground area. She came back to the mysterious tower, and she saw Riku looking around as well. They were both slightly confused, but Mickey thanked them for helping out, and asked if they could use the Sound Idea. Riku brought it out and it floated towards the music stand with the dark mist surrounding it. He willed his Keyblade out and started moving it around like a baton, and a soft, yet lovely tune produced from it. They both watched as another Sound Idea appeared and started getting rid of the darkness from the stand, and then another bright light appeared—completely removing the darkness. The floor was no longer flooded, and Mickey escaped the spell he was under. He asked what had happened, and Riku smiled. "Sora," he replied.

"Sora? Funny… just hearing that name kinda makes me wanna smile," Mickey replied. Riku agreed, and Mickey was pleased to know that the two Sound Ideas they released joined to create a perfect harmony. Riku laughed and told him that Sora was able to find the brightest in anything, and that he created miracles like it was nothing. Mickey was glad, and explained how they're all connected through the music. "Hopefully I can be part of the team someday."

"You will. Trust me," Riku replied. Mickey laughed, and out appeared another keyhole. Aura crossed her arms and watched as the boy used his Keyblade, but she was still worried about many things—mainly Mai and Trinity. She wondered where Marie was, and wondered why Lea was being brought up. She sighed, and just hoped for the best.

-Meanwhile-

Donald, Goofy and Mickey stood still with worried looks on their face, all staring at Yen Sid. Mickey decided to break the silence and asked Yen Sid if Lea was able to do it. The great sorcerer knew that he couldn't teach a cat to bark, as he so explained, but he contacted Merlin and the three fairies to help him in a more flexible place. "My hope is that he can at least learn to wield it," he explained.

"What about Marie? Wasn't Merlin teaching her?" Goofy asked, concerned for his close friend. Yen Sid explained that Merlin had to leave on 'business', since Marie would be beyond herself knowing what was going on when she still had training to do, and they couldn't allow distractions. "But… she cares for Sora, too."

"As much as their hearts are connected, Marie must persist in keeping her training. Merlin shouldn't be too long with him, and once he is done, he'll go straight to training her again." Goofy didn't really like keeping Marie in the dark, but he knew how worried she'd get and how impulsive she was. Maybe it was for the best.

Mickey wondered if Xehanort could have really planned everything, but Yen Sid was doubtful. Of course, Goofy wondered if he went through time, but Yen Sid explained that he would have had a version of himself at both the source and destination. Mickey gasped once he realized something, "I remember—Xehanort did give up his was a version of him that was possessing Riku."

Yen Sid opened his jaw in disbelief, and wondered if Xehanort was that cunning and possessed that kind of foresight. Mickey wanted to help Sora, Riku and Aura, but Yen Sid explained that it was already too far into the exam. However, Mickey believed that if Xehanort were planning something, then they would appear somewhere where Mickey could reach. Donald and Goofy wanted to go, but Mickey wanted them to stay behind for safekeeping. Yen Sid wasn't able to locate Sora, but he was able to sense Riku and Aura in the realm between. Mickey nodded, and hoped that all three of them were doing fine—this time was serious, and he couldn't just stand around and do nothing.

All right, chapter 11 done! We might actually get this down to 15 chapters, if not I'll stall until chapter 20 (just cause I like multiples of five haha) so that it's even. Let's see how things go, eh?