"Naminé..." Kairi was leaning against a wall with her eyes closed, desperately focusing on getting a connection through to Naminé. "Please, Naminé! Answer me!"
She was starting to lose hope as the minutes passed. After what seemed like hours, Naminé's voice rang out, "Kairi, can you hear me?"
Kairi let out a sigh of relief. "Naminé! Finally! I was getting worried there!"
"What happened? I'm talking to you one moment and then something interfered with our connection." Naminé's confusion was apparent in her tone. "I kept trying to talk to you, but nothing seemed to get through."
"So you could see and hear everything that happened but couldn't say anything?"
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that."
Kairi crossed her arms. "Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault!"
"It's just..." Naminé hesitated, unsure of what she was about to say. Kairi waited patiently. "I just don't like feeling helpless. That's all."
Kairi bit her bottom lip. "Naminé..."
"I mean, it was one thing to be held hostage," Naminé explained bitterly. "But not having a body of my own and being forced to watch my friends get hurt..." Her sentence trailed off.
Kairi smiled understandably. "Listen, I'm okay. There's no point beating yourself up over it." Kairi wished that she could've given Naminé a hug or a reassuring squeeze. "All that matters is that we're both still alive."
Naminé was silent for a moment. Then she asked, "So, who's next?"
Kairi respected her choice about changing the subject. "I think we're going to the one on the right."
The next blue cove that they were targeting seemed to hold...
"A hairpin?" Kairi guessed.
"I think it's more like a...tomahawk." Naminé replied.
Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Out of everything that it could be, you choose a tomahawk?"
"Well, it's too big to be a comb. And we already did the whole hair accessory thing back at Larxene."
Kairi thought for a moment. "You've got a point."
As the light began to envelop her for the umpteenth time, Kairi sang to herself, "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me..." This time the light deposited them into the circular arena that Larxene fought in. "Hey, we're in that arena again."
Naminé coughed. "You'd think they'd have come up with something more original."
The data streams appeared to form a giant, muscular man with the build of a rhino.
"Holy..." Kairi gasped, taking a few steps backward. "And I thought Riku was ripped!"
"His name's Lexaeus," Naminé quoted. "I haven't made much contact with him, so I wouldn't know how good this guy is." After a few seconds, she said, "Hey, Kairi. You mind if I take this one?"
Kairi's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How come?"
"Well, I wasn't exactly any help in the last fight," Naminé said bashfully.
Kairi shook her head impatiently. "Naminé, I told you already! It was the Organization's fault!"
"Even so, I've been wanting to do some fighting for awhile. Besides," she added, "I think you deserve to rest a bit."
Kairi stood silent for a moment. "Alright, fine. I'm trusting you not to get us killed, though."
Naminé giggled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Kairi let her consciousness sink into the depths of her heart as Naminé's form emerged from her body.
"Naminé," Lexaeus said as Naminé's hair tinkled from red to blond.
"Aeleus," Naminé replied curtly. Lexaeus' eyebrows shot up at the sound of his original name. The two stared at each other.
"Not much for words, this one," Kairi observed.
"Thanks to you, Sora and Riku, the Organization lost its hold on Castle Oblivion," Lexaeus stated.
"Um...you're welcome?"
"The Organization was undefeatable. But betrayal led to corruption within our ranks. And now..." He heaved the giant tomahawk over his right shoulder. "I was destroyed once by the dark wielder." The behemoth shook his head. "You and him are almost the same. No matter how much you deny it, I can see that there is darkness residing within you."
Naminé glared at him. "What are you talking about? A Princess of Heart doesn't have any darkness inside their heart!"
"That might have been true when you and the princess were one and the same. However, the doubt and fear that bind your heart...they are born from the darkness. Your heart is no longer pure light. As is all hearts cannot be pure light."
"And no heart can be pure darkness!" Naminé shot back. "Even in the blackest darkness, there will always be the brightest light!"
Lexaeus chuckled slowly. "Believe what you will. But know this, Naminé. Your heart is already tainted and its power will destroy you!" Lexaeus roared as energy suddenly emanated off of him in massive waves of power, pushing Naminé back. "See the power of darkness! I, Lexaeus, will not yield to a frail-hearted craven! Now, end your resistance, and let the darkness in!" Wave after wave of raw energy pulsated from his body with every word.
"Naminé," Kairi whispered. "What's the scouter say about his power level?"
Naminé rolled her eyes. "Seriously. You know how old that joke is?"
"...and then I find out that his father's the King of Thieves!" Jasmine exclaimed. "I mean, it's sort of royalty, but..."
While Lady Daisy and Queen Minnie continued to watch for signs of the battle outside, the Princesses of Heart occupied themselves by gossiping/arguing over their significant others and their own adventures.
"That's nothing!" Cinderella shook her head. "Did you know that I once saved my world's timeline? My stepmother took the Fairy Godmother's wand and..."
"Not that story again!" Belle interrupted. "It was bad enough that they made trilogies after you two."
"Like you should talk!" Jasmine countered. "You had a TV series and multiple movies starring you. They even got that Paige girl to play your voice the entire time!"
"At least all of you have boyfriends or husbands!" Alice complained. "Me? I'm stuck with a guy who's got a hat fetish and some creepy disappearing cat that I'd like nothing more than to beat the snot out of!"
"I heard the Best Man is single," Aurora stated. "Maybe you should try him."
"Really? I thought he was seeing someone." All conversation immediately halted as every eye turned toward Snow White.
"You're joking," Cinderella said. "Sora's friend is actually seeing someone? Who?"
Snow White shook her head. "I have no idea. It was just a rumor I heard." Armed with a new topic for gossip, the ladies began to speculate the mystery girl's identity.
Meanwhile, Chicken Little, Mushu and Stitch were busy in their own conversation. "I thought Lilo was supposed to come with you," Chicken Little said.
Stitch just shrugged. "Lilo...with...ohana." It was still difficult for him to speak fluent English most of the time.
"By the way," Mushu began, "I'm curious. How exactly did Disney pick you up again?" He looked at the vertically-challenged chicken suspiciously. "Did Pixar send you?"
Chicken Little shook his head. "Nah. Pixar was busy with Cars at the time." He crossed his arms. "Still can't believe they used that Scrubs guy for my voice. I sound nothing like him!"
"Don't know why you're complaining. I had Eddie Murphy in the first movie. Eddie Murphy! The Beverly Hills Cop, the Nutty Professor, the Dr. Doolittle! Then he shifted over to that one CGI series with the talking mule and I was stuck with some unknown comedian!"
"Well, if we should be complaining about anyone, it should be Stitch here." Chicken Little jerked a thumb toward Experiment 626. "They gave him four movies, three of them were direct-to-DVD and a TV series. We were never that popular!"
Mushu nodded in agreement. Then he looked around. "Speaking of which, where's is the little koala, anyway?" A thunderous crash shook the room as the sounds of Stitch attacking the buffet table in the reception hall came drifting in. Genie, Bambi and Dumbo immediately headed for the source of the commotion.
Chicken Little sighed. "Come on, Mushu. We better go and stop him before he eats all the silverware again."