hey we have a tv tropes page!
/Fanfic/Infinityinfinity
feel free to edit it!
we're also hurtling rapidly to the end of part 2: London and LA are both finished, Weirdmaggedon has two chapters left, and there's a few more chapters of Lestallum and Haven (probably about 4 total between them), before we move into Part 3 and its inevitable chaos in Shibuya. Thanks again for reading and commenting! I love everyone's ideas and theories. I just hope the 'real answers' live up to some of your expectations.
"Order up, hot plate!" the Assassin lady shouted, quick on her feet and grinning brightly as she rammed her arm-blades through the belly of an eye-bat Heartless and set the monster ablaze from the inside.
"Wish I had my gun…" the Assassin man grunted, annoyed, shooting a stream of fire out instead. He was quickly petrified, and both Kairi and Lady- as good a name as any until the Nobody remembered her own- shouted an Esuna to spring him back to normal. He groaned, but quickly began to dispatch a few more with controlled wheels of fire.
Kairi beamed. There was no doubt in her mind that they were starting to remember who they were.
The eye-bats had thinned out to only a dozen now, and Kairi took one long arc swing with her Keyblade, like she'd learned from Lea. Four went down with a single Strike Raid, her companions destroying the final eight between them with a few more bursts of fire.
Their mission complete, the three smiled, and sat quietly on the non-glass shattered side of the car wreck, facing the prison bubble.
"How are you, Kairi?" Guy asked her.
"I should be worrying about you two. Military… and chef?" Kairi asked, looking between them, both still sitting on either side of her protectively.
"Not military, I don't think," Guy said, shaking his head.
"Chef and… owner…" Lady replied, stroking her chin. "I have my own restaurant. Had? I… it's still hazy."
"What are you going to do, Boss?" Guy asked. "Now that I'm… this… I could use some food."
"I'm sure I could pop back off to town and get us something, sugar. You two wait here."
"Yeah, I don't think I'm leaving until-" Kairi started, before the prison bubble began to shake in its chains. Violent purple energy began to flick off it in cascading sparks and whips.
"Change a'plans, sweet. We're bailing."
Guy and Lady nodded to each other and roughly grabbed a wrist each, yanking Kairi through a corridor before she could even process, much less object.
"-the hell… what…" Kairi cried as her vision cleared, the smell of burning ozone on her tongue and nose.
"Master Axel gave us two orders. One was to follow yours, the second was to take you back if you were in immediate danger."
"But… can't you think for yourself?" Kairi cried at Guy, already knowing the answer but still mad.
"Wedid. And the answer was we needed to protect you. There's nothing we can do about that bubble. You just need to trust Dipper."
"'Sides, there's a perfectly working car there for 'em, gas, keys and all," Lady added, reminding her about Gideon's abandoned pickup truck. "They can get back once they're ready. We can't teleport them, anyway. Ain't safe."
Kairi nodded. The two of them were starting to talk more distinct, more like… people. It was time she took them to their master.
"Shit."
Lea stared, slack jawed at Kairi dragging Guy and Lady towards him, a strong grin on her face.
"Leeeee~aaaaa…" Kairi cooed at him. "You've got some children to adopt."
"Shit, fuck, no," Lea hissed. "Tiana… Tiana… no…"
Lea dropped his shovel and ran, scooping up Lady and Guy in a hug, mindful of Lady's exposed arm blades. "They got your worlds. No."
Lea wasn't upset his Nobodies had become humanoid, he was upset that he recognized at least one of them. Loosely, he pulled back, looking at them, before letting go of Guy's hand and pointing a finger gun at his own temple. "What do you two numbskulls remember, huh?"
Kairi would have swatted him if numbskull wasn't so affectionate.
"Not much, I'm afraid, Master Axel," Lady said, afraid to make eye contact.
"Now see here," Lea said, frowning. "I hated the term when I could feel it out of you all as Assassins, and I hate it more now that you're saying it aloud. Just. Axel. Or…" he said, smiling oddly, like it physically hurt to do so, "Lea, if we're being terribly pedantic."
Lea frowned, and rubbed his chin. "Can't say if it'll do much, but I want you to go in the house and find a girl named Naminé, okay? She might be able to help jog your memory."
"Wait, Naminé is here? How?" Kairi asked, confused, elated, and concerned all at once.
"The path out to Monstropolis never closed," Lea said with a shrug. "And with time stopped in here, it didn't matter that Monstropolis runs on such a fast time zone. Isa, Naminé, and Vexen caught up to us after all. With a guest to boot."
"So… we can just… leave…" Kairi said. "But with the stopped time, we also have the best chance of saving Sora and Riku. The minute this ends, we can all jump there."
Lea nodded. "And?"
"You don't want to strand anyone here," Kairi finished. "I don't want to either."
"Exactly," he said, mussing Kairi's short hair. "Now, you two, Nobodies, go inside and talk to Naminé, she's blonde in a white dress. I need to catch up with Kairi here, yeah?"
"Yessir," Guy and Lady said in unison.
"For the love of… stop it," Lea whined at them. "Lea. Leaaaaaaa. Get it memorized, you hear me?"
"How'd it happen?" Lea asked, having called his two remaining Assassins over to sit. "And… can you do it again? I know, deep down, these guys are… just like I was as a Nobody, just less… well. It doesn't feel right ordering them around if I can give them the chance to choose for themselves."
"You called the girl Tiana," Kairi said, looking fiercely at Lea as she patted one of the Assassin's heads.
"Princess Tiana. She's from a world called The Great Bayou. She and her husband opened up an amazing restaurant. Before I… before I knew Roxas and Xion me 'n Zex, er, Ienzo, when he was a Nobody, used to sneak off there before reporting back from missions. He always busied himself with cooking in his downtime, so when I found good places to eat, I'd take him."
"But if she's a princess of Heart-"
"Princess as in married to a prince, Kairi. Not everyone royal is an ~of Heart, and not all of you freaks are royalty." He nudged her playfully with a bony elbow.
Kairi blushed. "Alice and I aren't, you have a point. But what's an actual princess doing working in foodservice?"
"What she loved, clearly. Woman was chef de cuisine and front of house too when she felt like it."
Kairi just snorted and shook her head. "She did say something like 'hot plate, order up' when she punched a Heartless with fire. What do you think happened?"
"Not think, know. Remember now, we didn't have hearts back then. So no emotions, just the vague memories of them. And the only vague memory of an emotion Vexen had at the time… jealousy. I guess he thought I was taking his boy away from him. His son, his research partner, bit of both… beats me. He sent his legions to the planet, and must have wiped it off the map. All I know is one day, I tried to open up a corridor to get a po'boy, and it wouldn't open up. The world was gone to darkness. Honestly… with what we know now about worlds in the Dark World… it would have been better she wasn't so strong willed and ended up in my legion. She would have just drifted as a Heartless 'till her world got restored. Which is something we all still need to do after rescuing Sora and Riku, mind. Not every world is back yet. And her here is proof that hers is still in need of restoration."
Lea sighed. "So, I took your bait of a side-track, mind humoring me… princess?"
Kairi giggled. The nickname still made her feel like a little child. "I… well, it might have been one of two things, or a combination of both. Those weird waves of magic we've been seeing mess with reality."
"We've noticed. The only things they aren't affecting are the Heartless and Nobodies."
"Except… one did. The bubbles of his magic are a bit different, more like pocket dimensions. They only affect you while you're in them, it's not permanent like those pink waves."
"Don't tell me you walked through one."
"We drove through two. Had to."
Lea facepalmed and immediately pressed fingers to her temples and wrists, checking her for corruption. Satisfied he hadn't found anything out of the ordinary, he rotated his wrist in a spinning motion. "Go on."
"One of them swapped everyone's state. Dipper and Wendy- the redhead who thought you were cute, she's with Dipper now- they turned into Dusks for a few moments. I looked like Naminé. And the Assassins… turned into their human selves. Then we drove out the other side, and reverted back. I leaned over and kissed each of them on the forehead to thank them for helping us. I'm not sure what came over me to do it but…"
Lea rolled his eyes. "If it's that simple, I'm going to go back in time and slap Xemnas."
"What is?"
"True love's kiss."
"But I…" Kairi started, blushing madly. Lea put a finger to her lips to shush her and calm her down.
"Can it, princess, I didn't say romantic love. Gratitude's a type, too, y'know."
Kairi blushed further, and nodded, before leaning forward to plant a kiss on the top of the head of the Assassin in front of her. Lea rubbed his own forehead, and leaned forward to do the same for the other.
"Thanks for covering my ass, knucklehead."
Lea's kissed Assassin phased sideways, and for a split moment, Kairi saw double, the world glitching slightly as the planes re-locked into place.
The Assassin was now a young woman with entirely too much blonde hair. "Darling, I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
After Lea kissed the other Assassin back to humanoid form, thinking of gratitude, discovering this one to be none other than Tiana's husband Naveen, he shooed them both inside to go see if Naminé could do anything about their memory. After all, all Lea had to go on was Tiana and Naveen's interactions with him in their restaurant, seven years prior, before time froze for them all as lesser Nobodies.
"I know I saw that woman there too… friend of Tiana's I think," Lea said sheepishly.
"Didn't have it memorized?" Kairi teased, as the two took shovels to finish digging the well themselves.
"Heading into Day Four at this point…" Isa groaned pouring over a map Naveen had nicked for him from the town library. He, Mickey, and Guy- name still unknown, but from a world called Jamestown- were pooling their strategic prowess together to figure out how to assault Cipher's pyramid. The demon himself hadn't left it once he'd taken Ford, leaving them out of a very crucial option- the ability to bargain.
Nobody knew what the damn creature wanted. It couldn't have been satisfied with ruining a single town in the woods, could it?
Especially when the world was as big as this one, filled with fairies and unicorns and even angels that could bring people back to life…
"Maybe Cipher wants'ta bring someone back from the dead?" Mickey offered. "Seems like the angels can do it, from what little we heard from 'em."
"It's as good a start as any," Isa replied, pulling on his hair. "I cannot imagine what else he wants. Not as though he has… well… come over here and demanded anything."
"He just took Ford away and terrorizes anyone out on the roads or in town," Mickey replied, nodding. "He's ignored us completely, even though he clearly knows this place exists."
"Ignored, or can't enter. Between the unicorn hair and Lea's hex, this place is extremely warded." Isa beamed with pride. Lea wasn't nearly as much a one-trick pony as he used to be, and like he'd heard of Riku, fully embraced the fact that his magic drew from his darkness- without getting overwhelmed by it.
"So what, we send a representative to go bargainin' with Cipher?" Mickey asked, as the screen door swung open, slamming against the side on its hinges.
"Anyone home?" Dipper asked uneasily.
Rounds of hugging and crying later, and Dipper, Wendy, and the janitor -Soos, as he introduced himself to the crop of newcomers-, had returned, with Mabel in tow.
Mabel and Dipper would not let go of each other's' hands, until the onslaught of hugs separated them.
"We've gotta rescue Ford," Dipper said, staring at their other great-uncle angrily. "Why have none of you done anything?"
"What could we do?" Lea asked, throwing up his hands. "We've got no info on big, blinding, and all powerful here. With a few real specific exceptions, even leaving the grounds is a quick way to get petrified, or worse. We've got a few who can, safely, hands up." Lea gestured around the room, and Vexen, Naminé, Guy, Tiana, Naveen, and Blondie shot hands up.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, for Isa, he couldn't get his Berserkers to become humanoid, setting them up as sentinels around the perimeter, and Vexen's control only extended to Dusks, the lowest of all Nobodies. Trying to get any of them to regain their human forms without outright murdering them would be impossible; all that would do would put them back on their own worlds, anyway.
"Well, if we can't safely leave the Shack to confront Cipher…" Dipper said thoughtfully. "It's Lea's runes, right? Can you draw out a trail of them downtown so we have a safe path?"
"It's not the runes alone, it's also the wards on the house directly. And Princess Prissypants here certainly doesn't have enough hair to make a path all the way downtown."
An irate unicorn whinnied at that remark.
"Yeee-haw, boys and girls!" A short, shoeless man, the one Isa thought had been a dwarf, loudly slapped his knee. "If we can't make a trail to that crazy pyramid- 'n trust me I know me some crazy- why don't we move the whole place with us?"
"What, put the whole place on wheels?" Dipper asked incredulously.
Lea grinned. "Hey Isa, remember how I've got three property-damage related warrants for my arrest in San Fransokyo? You remember what that was for?"
"Turning a building into a giant fighting machination?" Isa asked, rolling his eyes, before he choked on his own spit.
"Hoo, boy, you too, kiddo?" the short old man asked Lea. "Gots me at least ten counts of property damage meself. Name's McGucket. Think we'll get along just fine," he added, spitting into his outstretched hand, offering it to Lea.
Lea looked a little green, but Vexen jabbed him in the ribs. "It seems the best possible plan we have at the moment. Having a moveable safe haven seems prudent, no?"
Lea swallowed bile and shook McGucket's hand. It was uncomfortably moist.
"Yeah, sure. Sleep deprived, hungry, and reaaaaal pissed off. Let's do this."
"Dear me… I say, I don't think I have the scientific know-how to be of even the slightest assistance here."
"Yeah." Namine looked to the woman with the iron wrought Keyblade, clad in deep navy armor. "I'm sure if we asked, there's gotta be something we could help with. Even Pacifica is, and she's younger than… well, no she's not really younger than me. I'm Naminé, by the way. I'm sorry I never introduced myself back in that lamp-lit world."
"When the redhead had the Nobodies raise hands, you raised yours," Mary said, looking sternly at her. It wasn't a question. "Yet, when you came to me back in Old London Town, I did not sense a shred of darkness on you as I did from your companions."
"I am one. I'm Kairi's, the redhead girl with the flower Keyblade?" Naminé ask-answered, pointing to where Kairi was using Flowmotion to circle around the exterior of the house, tagging it with some kind of spell.
"And yet you both exist. Curious. You do not possess a Keyblade of your own?"
"No, ma'am. Nor magic, not in the traditional sense at least. My sole powers are those over memory, and even then, there's many stipulations on how I can even use it. The only use I am here is that Heartless and Nobodies will not harm me."
"What if you punched one?" Mary asked her, tilting her head slightly, to watch Lea shoot up like a literal rocket on a pillar of flame to weld something to the roof. His own now-human Assassins followed his lead, joking with him all the while, as if they were old friends. Naminé had seen into their hearts, and they all were. The blonde man only after having his heart taken, but the other three had been friends with Lea even before that point.
"Punched one what?"
"Heartless. Would it become enraged, and attack?"
"I… don't know. I've never, um… punched a Heartless before."
"You can safely leave the magic protecting this place, though, no?"
Naminé nodded.
"Well, why don't you step just outside and goad one of the bats, then? See what happens if you do strike one."
Naminé was a flurry of embarrassed hands. "I couldn't!"
"And how do you know this? You've just told me you've never tried. I will not allow it to harm you," Mary insisted, hefting her Keyblade on a shoulder. "I will intervene if necessary."
Naminé paled, even more than normal, and took a few steps to the edge of the grounds, passing out of the magical sphere of influence. The eye-bat Heartless continued to ignore her.
"Hey!" she screamed at one, stamping her foot. Still, they circled overhead, making no move to strike. Naminé dug in the undergrowth at her feet, and found a half-rotten pine cone. She threw it, hitting one of the eye-bats square in its massive eye.
It continued to ignore her, and flew directly into a tree, sliding down the trunk in a tangle of wings and Heartless howls.
Naminé sighed. Useless. Couldn't even goad a Heartless to coming to her. Dejected, she shuffled back into the magical protection surrounding the Pines' estate.
"Why the long face, Naminé?"
"I… couldn't even get its attention. It's like I'm not much more than a shadow."
"Quite true, but do you know what else they say about shadows?" Mary asked, quirking an eyebrow. "If someone has one at their back, they will never, ever be able to shake it off."
"A shadow also can deal no damage."
Mary smiled, flipping her Keyblade in her hand so the hilt faced Naminé. "Mayhaps, yet I have met some rare specimens that have teeth of their own. Only if you wish it, child. My tutelage will be long and difficult."
"You're not just going to make me a Keyblade wielder and throw me into battle?"
"What… what imbecile in their right mind would do such a thing? Firstly, I would never allow someone under seventeen to even consider seeing battle and secondly, traditional training is seven years from acolyte to-"
Naminé laughed, and gently took the handle, feeling warmth within her. "You might want to have a few words with our current crop of… imbeciles, then."
Mary flipped her Keyblade around, attaching it directly to a hook on the back of her armor, instead of dismissing it like Naminé had seen other Keyblade wielders do.
"What other damage must I undo?" Mary sighed out. "No matter, I'll sort all of that out afterwards. Cannot make steps forward when a foe such as this is on the horizon. Now, Naminé, I do want you sitting this out. But you will not be helpless, you hear me? You are to practice summoning and dismissing your Keyblade until it is second nature. No pupil of mine will be caught slouching, you hear me?"
"Yes, Master Mary, ma'am!"
"Explain your issues, child." Mary crossed her arms, looking down at Stan, dejected and away from the rest of the group huddled around the campfire, excitedly talking about all the modifications they'd made on the Pines' home. Mary smiled, looking at her new charge talking excitedly with a blonde girl, snuggling in a sweater with a llama on it on one side, and Kairi on the other. Once this ordeal was over with, she'd find her way to a good spot back in the Oceans Between to set up a proper school.
That near-abandoned town- Traverse was it?- was a perfect candidate. The abandoned mansion that had served as the portal's pathway had plenty of spacious rooms for a library, dormitories, and classrooms, from what little she saw, and it faced an impressive and unused open courtyard Mary could already picture filled with students sparring. It certainly didn't hurt that the architecture reminded her a little of Daybreak Town.
"Child? Lady, that's a new one." Stan grunted, and downed a canned beverage, before setting it back on the armrest of his chair. Mary sighed, mildly disgusted with herself, and tapped the can, chilling it with ice magic.
She might have refilled her mana back in Traverse Town, but with the darkness here, she was on just her current charge until they left this place.
"I may not look it, but I can guarantee I am your elder. Thus, child."
"Lady, you'd have to be at least eighty or ninety to-" Stan started, before seeing the woman's sharp glare.
"Try multiplying said estimate."
"By what?"
"An exponent."
Stan gulped. "Okay, fine, you have earned the right to call me a child. What's the difference?"
"I have been informed that we're attempting to rescue your twin brother. Yet here you are, being… a curmudgeon. Care to explain yourself?"
Stan looked away from Mary and grunted. "Whole problem was his friggin' fault in the first place."
"Oh? Is your brother Bill Cipher perhaps?"
"Ugh, no."
"Then this problem is not your brother's fault," Mary said, matter-of-factly, putting hands on her hips.
"Well, it doesn't matter anyway, 'cause we're all gonna die."
"You would all perish from something as simple as starvation once all the food in this contained bubble of a town runs dry as well, wouldn't you think?"
"Lady, look, this ain't my town. I'm not even from stinkin' Oregon."
"And neither are your niece and nephew, yet, here they are."
"Don't bring 'em into this."
"I didn't have to, they did that themselves. They all did. Now, you can sit here by yourself, or you can come by the fire where it's warm and join them for supper. Your choice, for after everyone rests for a few hours, we are moving this house to the Pyramid where Chiper lies, with you in it or not."
"That a threat, lady?" Stan grumbled.
"It certainly can be. Now, I daresay, I smell sausages. Can't fight on empty bellies, can we now?"
Some of the smaller details I went out of my way to point out in earlier chapters are starting to come to fruition, first there's the "can't curse in Muppet world" bit, and now "Lea's arrest warrant for property damage in San Fransokyo" alllll the way back from chapter 2.
I don't want to say what some of the other foreshadowing bits are yet, but I wonder if any of you can pick out things I went out of my way to mention...? :D