Aerith's House: Cid
"So yeh said Tron's havin' problems?" Cid asked, looking sideways at the computer. Tron hadn't notified him.
"Yeah," Sora replied with a shrug. "Said something about Heartless problems. And, well, we're kind of the people for the job."
Sora looked sheepish. Riku rolled his eyes.
"Well, no sense goin' all the way to the castle," Cid grunted. "Yeh can jus' use my terminal."
"Sweet!" Sora said, grinning.
Ienzo was still busy looking over the journals. He hadn't said a word.
Someone knocked on the door. Cid knew that knock. Shera.
"Come in," he said, making sure to enunciate that to make it clear that she should come in, not that he was coming to open the door.
Shera peeked her head in. "Rinoa and Leon made sandwiches, are any of you hungry?"
"Am I ever!" Sora exclaimed.
Shera opened the door, revealing most of the main room. Most everyone was sitting down at the table eating.
"Well, I suppose we should wait to go help Tron then?" Riku asked, sounding bemused. "Considering everyone's eating."
"Yeah, basically," Sora said, already heading over there to get a sandwich of his own. Riku sighed and followed him.
"Do you mind if I take this down to my shop?" Ienzo asked.
"Throw it in the copier firs'," Cid said. "I want copies."
Ienzo nodded and set to doing that.
"I made a phone call," Shera said, leaning against Cid's desk.
"Yeah?" Cid asked.
"Well, I called Queen Minnie, asking if she had any suggestions regarding the school or a mayor or, well, really anything. Bigger issues regarding the restoration."
"Shera, yeh didn' have teh!" Cid said. "Leon or I could've…"
Shera smiled. "I've known the Queen longer than either of you. Anyway, she said she knew Mickey knew the man for the job and would get right on that."
"Really?" Cid asked, sitting up straighter in his chair. "Did she say who?"
Shera shook her head. "But I trust her judgment."
"Well, I trust yers," Cid said, nodding.
She smiled. "We'll get this place back to its former glory."
Cid grinned and stood up. He pulled Shera into his arms and held her there.
"Jus' wait till yeh see it!" he said.
Ienzo coughed. Cid spun around, having forgot he was there. Ienzo held up the papers. "I'll be taking these," he said. "Your copies are right here."
He laid a stack of papers on Cid's desk. Cid nodded and Ienzo scuttled out.
"You don't think we…" Shera began.
"Naw!" Cid said, grinning at her.
"Did we learn anything?" she asked, gesturing to the stack of papers.
"Oh! Loads! Read this…"
Cid found the paper he was looking for and handed it to Shera.
xx
Christmas Town: Mickey
His search had not been entirely unsuccessful. He was only trying to track a few things. A short, simple mission. He'd only been gone a couple of days. But he was tired and…
He was being called.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hello!"
Mickey could not help the smile that crossed his face as he heard Minnie's voice.
"Hey! Everything okay?" he asked. Minnie didn't usually call him unless…
"Yes, everything's fine!" Minnie assured him. "I just was talking with Shera. Everyone in Hollow Bastion is really getting ready for the next stages of restoration. The problem is, they need a leader. I don't think Leon's up for the job."
"Hmm," Mickey mused.
"But I told Shera that you might know someone who would be?" Minnie said, prodding.
"Oh!" Mickey exclaimed. "Well, I s'pose I do. Though, last I talked to him…"
"Maybe if you talked to him again? Tell him that there's a purpose for him? That his place is back at his home?"
"I could do that," Mickey said. "I am already out and about. But getting there is a bit more difficult…"
"You'll find a way," Minnie encouraged. "I know you will!"
Mickey laughed. "Gosh, Minnie. I know you're right."
She giggled. "Be safe, though! I want you home in one piece! Tail, ears, and all!"
"Of course!" Mickey said.
They exchanged 'I love yous' and 'goodbyes' and then Mickey returned to the current task at hand.
Except, he was pretty sure Christmas Town wasn't where he needed to be anymore. He was pretty certain he needed to be heading to the Realm of Darkness.
"Where's a Vexen Replica when you need one?" he mused.
The star shard activated in his pocket.
"Well, I s'pose that works," he mused.
However, the star shard did not take him to a Vexen Replica. It took him to his other intended destination: The Dark Margin. Ansem the Wise, or DiZ, as he was currently calling himself, still sat there on a boulder.
Mickey looked skeptically at his star shard.
"Well that shouldn't be possible," he muttered. "But I'll take it."
DiZ turned to look at him.
"Hello old friend," he said. "It's been a while."
"That it has," Mickey said, grateful he had a cloak on. He often wore one when travelling. Now it was serving a dual purpose.
"Have you come to chat? Or to convince me that I am needed in the Realm of the Light?"
"Both," Mickey said, finding a place to sit on a nearby rock.
DiZ chuckled. "Oh, really?"
Mickey nodded. "Hollow Bastion's restoration is going well," he said. "Now that we've gotten rid of the last of Xehanort's traps."
"Don't think that is the end of Xehanort," DiZ cautioned.
"Oh we know," Mickey said. "I have much to tell you."
xx
Hollow Bastion Town: Rinoa
"Denzel," Rinoa said. "You don't have to come with us."
Denzel shrugged.
"Let him come," Squall said, hefting his gunblade. "If he wants to."
"What are you guys doing, anyway?" Denzel asked, his voice quiet.
"Checking to make sure there aren't too many Heartless," Rinoa answered. "We've gotten rid of most of them, but like every other World, there's always some."
"And with Sora saying there's problems in Space Paranoids," Squall said. "It makes me worry we'll have problems out here."
Rinoa knew generally what Squall was referring to, some big battle that involved Sora and his friends on the inside and Squall and the rest of the gang on the outside. She hadn't been there herself. However, that had been a long time ago.
Denzel gripped his rod in his hands. Rinoa thought about perhaps getting him a sturdier one—one that was meant to be a weapon and not something he'd picked up off the streets. She'd have to talk to Cloud about that, because Cloud was also very good at getting people weapons.
"Is Cloud going to be okay?" Denzel asked. "He didn't come back last night."
"He's probably fine," Squall said, smirking a little. "One thing you get used to around here is that people come and go and time gets a little funny."
Rinoa snorted. "I've seen time weirder."
Squall's face darkened. "Well, then there's that."
Rinoa smiled, trying to relieve the mood. "Don't listen to us, Denzel, sometimes we tease each other."
Denzel simply nodded.
They ran into a small patch of Heartless, but that was it. Denzel was fairly adept at fighting, now that he was coherent. Rinoa only had to Cure him once.
"You guys are all really nice," he mumbled as the three of them headed back to Aerith's house.
"Oh?" Rinoa said, looking at Denzel.
"Well, back home there's not too many people who would just take me in like this. And you're all nice. Even Yuffie."
"There was a time when we were just a small bunch of misfits," Squall said. "But, as Aerith puts it, we're family."
"It's nice," Rinoa said, putting a little skip in her step. She was surprised when she felt Denzel's hand in her own. He'd reached out to her hesitantly and had barely brushed hers. She looked down at him and smiled. She grabbed his hand and gripped it tight. A small smile grew on Denzel's face. Rinoa reached out with her other hand and grabbed Squall's hand with her other. He only seemed mildly surprised. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
They made their way back to Aerith's house, hand-in-hand. Things were quieter than when they had left.
"Sora leave?" Squall asked.
"Went through the terminal not ten minutes ago," Cid answered.
Rinoa turned to look at Denzel, who had flopped down on the couch with a smile on his face. "Family," he murmured.
Rinoa smiled. She saw Aerith smiling too.
xx
Aerith's House: Riku
The sandwich was good. Riku couldn't even care who made it. It was just good. Though, he supposed he hadn't figured on how hungry he had gotten. He'd only munched on a couple of things on the gummi ship. Sora was probably onto something when he stopped everything when there was food around. Aerith was probably onto something when she insisted on feeding people all the time, too.
When they were done eating, Sora moved the conversation to going to see Tron.
"He seems to be on top of things," Riku mused.
Kairi smacked his arm. "Give him a break."
Riku snorted. "I'm just a little uneasy though, this kind of seems like a detour."
"We'll be fighting Remnants no matter where we go," Namine said.
"Odds of us finding Xigbar?" Xion asked.
"That I don't know," Namine said.
"Slim," Axel said.
Riku frowned.
"Here's a thought," Roxas said. "What are the odds that the Remnant takes a while to show back up because Sephiroth killed the last one?"
"'Scuse me, wha?" Cid asked. "Yeh didn' mention tha' part!"
Zack scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I said we took care of things. So what if Sephiroth did us a favor! We all know the Remnant's gonna be back."
"But it could take a while," Namine said.
"Then let's get going!" Sora said, standing up.
"I said could," Namine repeated.
"All that said, we should go," Xion said.
"My computer's in there, don' break anythin'," Cid said.
"Better watch them if you're worried," Yuffie said.
Cid looked at Sora. "I trust him."
"But you don't trust anyone else!" Yuffie whined.
Riku, Axel, and Roxas all burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Yuffie asked.
"I don't even know," Roxas said. "But the way you just…"
Axel slapped the table a couple of times, laughing as well. Riku controlled his laughter down to a chuckle and looked at Kairi and Namine. Both of them were shaking their heads.
"Come on, guys, let's get going!" Sora urged.
"Sooner the better," Axel said, getting up from the table.
"Yeah," Riku said.
They all got up. Sora led the way to Cid's computer room.
"For those of you new to this…" Sora said, pulling up the correct program. "Well, don't panic."
"Guys, you don't think my data's going to conflict…" Xion began.
"Nonsense," Namine interrupted. "The Vexen Replicas are better than that."
"Besides," Kairi said. "You won't be the only one with problems."
"That's comforting," Xion muttered.
"Worst case scenario," Riku said. "Axel and I take care of this."
Axel smirked. "Yeah, leave it to us."