Heyo! A new chapter for you all, just in time for the weekend~ :)
Thank you all for your favorites, follows, and reviews last chapter, as always. You guys are so awesome! Reading what you guys think of my story is like my favorite thing ever!
I don't have much to say other than I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's a little talky, but I kinda like how it came out and hopefully it answers some of your questions about what the heck is going on in this story. Next chapter will be full of action!
Okay, here we go!
"You can make change or it can make YOU. Change is to keep us on our toes. Change is to make us look more closely. What doesn't change are the arms you use to hug with. Those stay the same."
― Kyo Maclear, Mr. Flux
Chapter 35: Huggable
"Where… huh?" Aila asked eloquently, her jaw slack. She turned to Danny, trying to gauge his expression. Had she heard the King correctly?
"You are from the Land of Knowledge, aren't you?" Mickey asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.
"I… dunno," Danny said, sounding just as baffled as Aila felt. For some reason that comforted her. "Are we?"
"Ya sure are!" Mickey chuckled, crossing his arms. "Danny, Aila, and Alex. The three of you were taken from your world and scattered around ours."
Aila felt like she needed to sit down. Answers. She was finally getting answers! …Then why did she feel somewhat sick at the revelation? Was it because finding out exactly what happened would make everything seem more real? More definitive? More…
Permanent?
She shook her head roughly. No, the truth could mean that she'd learn that this all wasn't permanent. That this would all eventually come to an end and she, Danny, and Alex would all go back to their own world as if nothing had ever happened.
…For some reason, that thought scared her just as much.
"Here," Mickey said, scurrying over to the wall of the castle and gesturing for the two of them to follow. Danny gave Aila an absolutely perplexed look and she shrugged in response before the two of them followed, their steps falling in unison against the grey stone of the postern floor.
Mickey sat, his back against the wall, and gestured for them to do the same. They did, rather clumsily, a few feet away from him, both of them a little nervous about getting too close to the King. Was it rude to sit too close to a king? Maybe it was rude to sit too far away…
"We can keep an eye out this way," Mickey said in a hushed voice, his eyes scanning the landscape before them. The dark blue mountains peppering the horizon appeared silent enough, and after a moment Mickey seemed satisfied with their isolation. He glanced in Aila's direction and she saw him wink at her from beneath his hood. "No one'll sneak up on us if we sit like this."
"Sneaky," Aila giggled, feeling rather giddy again. She really wanted to hug that mouse.
"So uh, Your Majesty," Danny began. Mickey shushed him. "Er… sorry. Sir. What were you saying before? About our world?"
"Ah yes," Mickey said with a nod, crossing his arms once again as a pensive expression came over his face. "I wanted to talk to ya about where you come from, and why things are so dangerous for you here."
"It seems like it's dangerous for everyone here," Aila said softly, playing with a piece of stone that had chipped off beneath her feet. "The town square was pretty empty…"
"Yes, things… don't look good, do they?" Mickey agreed with a quiet sigh. He stared sadly into the distance for a few moments, and Aila found herself completely mesmerized by his expression. Seeing Mickey Mouse look so sad was… well, it was kind of heartbreaking, and she felt immediately guilty for causing such a look to worm its way onto his features. But in the blink of an eye he'd snapped out of it, his expression very serious as he faced the two teens once again. "But I'm not talking about the dangers of the Heartless, and not even that of the Nobodies, not really anyway. Not for you." He looked Aila directly in the eye, and she felt herself shrink a little at his stern gaze.
"Well then… what?" Aila heard herself whisper. She sounded scared. Why was she scared?
Mickey shut his eyes and rested his head back against the wall. "You both knew who I was before you'd ever laid eyes on me." It wasn't a question.
"Oh, well uh, Donald and Goofy talk about you all the time!" Aila stuttered quickly.
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't what he was talking about," Danny said quietly. His eyes were trained steadily on the King's face, watching for any shift in expression. Mickey opened one of his eyes and it locked with Danny's, a smile flickering across the King's face as he tapped his nose, signifying that Danny was right on the money. "…So… you know about the game."
Mickey raised an eyebrow, chuckling to himself. "A game, hm?"
"Danny!" Aila hissed, smacking her brother in the arm. "Look what you did! He didn't know!"
"Ow, Aila, he totally did, that what he was saying!" Danny said, pushing Aila away as she attempted to hit him again.
Mickey laughed. "Well, you're both right." The two siblings stopped squabbling and blinked in his direction. "I knew you knew what you know, but not how you knew it, you know?"
The teens blinked again, looked at one another, blinked one more time, and then looked back at the King. "No…" they said together, both completely lost.
"Let's start over," Mickey said kindly. "You come from a world where information is widely available, right at your fingertips, at a moments notice. Information about almost anything you could every wish to know about." His eyes twinkled, and his voice lowered to just above a whisper. "Information about this world. About my world, Sora's world… All of the worlds you've likely come across since you left your own. Am I on track?"
"…Yes, sir," Aila and Danny recited together, both of them just barely above a whisper as well.
Mickey nodded. "Right. See, I knew you knew all that, but I wasn't sure how the information was presented to you." He chuckled. "Apparently it's in game form. How fun!"
Aila blinked. "So… you're cool with… being… uh, well… you know…" She trailed off, not really sure how to finish that thought without sounding extremely rude.
"Fictional?" Danny finished for her. Aila sighed at his lack of tact.
Mickey smirked knowingly. "Fictional? Hm… is that really what I am? Well then, what are you?"
"Crazy," Danny said at the same time Aila said "dead?"
"You seem pretty alive to me," Mickey said, reaching out and touching Aila's hand gently. The warmth of his gloved fingers mixed with her own, and Aila stared in awe.
'Try… not to… grab… hand…' she thought desperately.
"And as for being crazy," Mickey continued, "Well, if I'm a figment of your ravings, I'll have to ask you not to attempt to become sane any time soon. I promised Minnie I'd see her again soon."
"So… you're saying that all of this is real," Aila clarified slowly. "I mean… we already knew that, though…"
"Hm," Mickey said, eyeing her knowingly. Did he think she still had doubts? Aila could hear Celina sigh in the back of her mind, and she silently begged the Spirit not to launch into any I-told-you-so's about the state of her reality right now. "Well anyhow, I'm not only talkin' about here." Mickey took his hand away and once again sat with his head resting back against the wall, gazing up into the sky. "I'm talkin' about all kinds 'a places. Hundreds of worlds, probably, all of their information available to residents of your own."
"The 'Land of Knowledge'," Danny parroted. "So that's what you meant."
"What? What did he mean?" Aila asked, still not quite getting it. "I'm sorry, but… what hundreds of worlds? We know about uh… like…" she counted on her fingers, ticking off the worlds from Kingdom Hearts one and two. "…A dozen or so?"
Mickey shook his head. "Nope. You know about more than that, I'm sure of it."
"It's not just Kingdom Hearts worlds he's talking about, Aila," Danny explained quietly. At the words 'Kingdom Hearts' Aila saw the King's ears twitch, but he didn't ask for clarification.
"There are as many worlds out there as there are stars," Mickey said softly, his eyes still trained skyward despite the daylight obscuring any stars from view. "And your world knows about a lot of 'em. That's for certain."
Aila looked back and forth between the King and Danny, blinking slowly as she did so. "Are you…" she began, her mouth feeling dry. "Are you telling me that… everything that's fictional on our world… it's… all real?"
"Well no, of course not. Now that would be completely crazy," the King said with a small laugh.
"But a lot of it is probably real," Danny said seriously. "Just like this world. We thought it was made up, but… it's not."
"It appears that way," Mickey said with a nod, his own expression sobering.
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Aila blurted out. "It's one thing for a place to be real, yeah, okay, I can get my head around that. But we know timelines. We know… we know events that are going to happen that haven't happened yet! How is that possible?"
"Your world exists in a very different universe than our own," Mickey explained calmly. "There hasn't been a physical cross over in… well, in a very long time. It's nearly impossible, with your world being so far away from the others, wrapped in the folds of another dimension. Ah, but information…" The King's eyes twinkled. "Information is drawn to people on your world like a magnet. Snippets of other worlds, and the lives of the people who live on them, from the past, present, and even the future, worm their way through the folds of all our realities and often come to rest in the dreams and imaginations of the residents of your world. It would make sense for them to believe that it's nothing more than that; just figments of a dream that blossomed within their own minds. And I suppose sometimes that's all it is. Ah, but sometimes…" Mickey looked at the two teens again and smiled. "Sometimes it's so much more."
Aila's head was spinning. This was… a lot to take in. Kingdom Hearts was just the tip of the iceberg, apparently. She felt like she needed to lie down.
"So you see, that's why you're in danger," Mickey said, suddenly very urgent. He leaned in toward the teens, his eyes narrowing. "It's of the upmost importance that you let no one know where you're from, or what you know. If anyone were to find out, well…" He sat up and sighed heavily. "There's no telling what people would do to gain the knowledge you hold."
"Well we're not gonna tell the bad guys," Danny scoffed, sounding offended.
"Bad or good, it doesn't matter," Mickey insisted. "Being able to know things that will happen to your enemies, your friends, yourself, before they happen… Even someone with the best intentions could easily misuse this information. Or worse, they could let it slip to someone with not so good intentions. Do you understand?"
"Basically, don't trust anyone," Danny said with a nod. Aila frowned.
"Well I hate to put it like that, but…" Mickey said. He trailed off without finishing his thought.
"But… Your Maj—Uh, I mean… sir…" Aila began.
"Mickey, please," Mickey said softly, offering her a small smile. Aila's heart fluttered a bit in spite of her confusion.
"M-Mickey… You know all this… right? Surely there are other people as trustworthy as yourself."
"Ah," Mickey said with a small wink. "But I don't really know anything. I just knew that you held the information. Now, what exactly that information is, I'd like to discover in my own time and in my own way." He chuckled. "That's the thrill of life, isn't it? Not knowing what the future holds? Anything could happen, really, at least as far as I'm concerned. I'd never want that taken away from me."
Well when he put it like that, any desire Aila may have had to tell anyone anything flew out the window. It would be rather cruel, wouldn't it? To tell someone the end of their story and take away the journey they were meant to have to get there? Still… she felt a pang of guilt at the thought of keeping something so important from Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Keeping such a big secret felt like betraying their trust…
"Don't worry, Aila," the King said suddenly, pulling Aila out of her thoughts. Apparently her concern had been quite evident on her face. Whoops. "We can revisit the idea of sharing the information with select individuals after all this trouble is over." He smiled kindly, as if he'd known exactly what, and who, she'd been thinking about. "I just think it best that no one is tempted right now, what with so much on the line. Understand?"
"…Yeah. Okay," Aila said after a moment's hesitation. If that's what the King felt was best, then who was she to argue? She trusted him completely, despite only just having met him. After all; he was Mickey Mouse. Has that been mentioned yet?
"So, that takes care of 'where we're from'," Danny said with a stretch. "Now what about 'who we are'?"
"Heh, straight to business, eh Danny?" Mickey asked with a small chuckle. His eyes then hardened and he gave Danny a very serious look. "Or was it Cyrus asking?"
Aila gasped, her breath catching in her throat and causing her to cough. "You… know about that too?" she choked out between coughs.
"I do," Mickey said with a nod, still looking at Danny rather intently. "But I'm afraid I need him to answer me, Aila." His voice was hushed and very stern, so much so that it almost frightened Aila. She slowly looked between Mickey and her brother, who seemed to be staring at the King with a look of equal intensity. Their staring match went on for what felt like ages, though it really only lasted a matter of seconds. Aila wasn't sure why, but it almost seemed like they were sizing one another up. Why would they do that?
Finally, Danny sat back and chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "I was asking, of course," he said casually, flashing the King a grin. When Mickey continued to stare, Danny clarified: "Danny. Not Cyrus."
Mickey looked Danny in the eyes for a moment longer, seeming to be trying to gauge whether or not Danny was being honest. He then smiled a little and nodded. "Good." He turned to Aila. "And I am speaking to Aila, right? Not Celina?"
"Uh, right…" Aila said, feeling confused. Could Celina take over her body or something?
"I thought so," Mickey said with a kind smile. "Well, that's good then. Let's keep it that way, okay you two?"
"What do you mean?" Aila asked, suddenly very nervous. A feeling of dread seemed to be radiating from Celina in the back of her mind, as if the Spirit was worried about what the King would say next. Did Celina not want Aila to know something?
"I just don't want you to lose yourselves," Mickey said softly. "It's important that you two don't lose sight of who you are. You, Aila, and you, Danny. Just promise me that."
"Sure, sure," Danny said nonchalantly as Aila slowly nodded.
"It would probably help if you didn't use your powers too much, either," the King continued, putting a finger to his chin.
"Ha! I told you!" Aila erupted, jabbing a finger at Danny's chest and making Mickey jump in surprise. She grinned sheepishly as she met Mickey's confounded gaze. "Oh, uh… Celina told me it was dangerous to use my powers, but Danny didn't believe me…"
"She did, huh?" Mickey asked, sounding almost impressed. "I see. Well, she's right, for a number of reasons, though perhaps the most crucial reason is that using your powers could give away your identities."
"What, us doing lightshow stunts will give away that we're from the 'Land of Knowledge'?" Danny scoffed in what Aila thought sounded a little disrespectful. She glared at him.
"No," the King said, "but it would definitely give away that you're the reincarnations of some very powerful Spirits of old. There's no doubt that people like the Organization would want someone like you on their side, and I doubt they'd go about doing that in a friendly way."
"Uh, actually…" Aila began, raising her hand as if she were in school. "They kinda… already know about that…"
The King gasped. "They do?!"
"Uh… yeah…" Aila mumbled, scratching her arm and looking away. "I dunno how, but… they definitely know."
"Maybe that's why they kidnapped ya…" the King pondered, half to himself. Aila wondered for a moment how he knew about that; had Riku told him? Nah, probably the Committee… "Though I wonder, then… have they made any attempt to take you back since you escaped?"
"Um…" Aila thought back to Twilight Town and winced at the memory of Demyx attacking her. She remembered Saïx and Demyx leaving… but she didn't remember them making an attempt to take her with them. "No… I don't think so."
"Have they had opportunities?"
Aila thought of all the times she'd found herself alone with Axel and Demyx. If they'd really never been on her side, then it would have been extremely easy for them to capture her again on any number of worlds – Agrabah, Halloween Town, Atlantica… She winced again as she realized just how many times she'd put herself in danger. Donald was right – she needed to stop leaving the group. "Yeah. They did."
"How strange…" Mickey mused, furrowing his brow in confusion. "I wonder…" He cocked his head to the side suddenly, as if listening to something that Aila couldn't hear. After a moment, her brought his hand up under his hood to his right ear. "How many?" Aila blinked before realizing that he must be speaking into a communicator. She made a mental note to tell the Committee that she needed a new one of those, glaring as she remembered the fact that Axel had used the last one to track her. "Got it. I'll take care of it." His hand fell back to his side and he stood. "A Heartless hoard has shown up in the Bailey," he explained to Aila and Danny. He glanced back toward the castle's entrance, looking unsure. "I told Leon I'd bring you in when we were done talkin', Aila, but…"
"I'll take care of 'em," Danny said, standing up and summoning his sword. "I'm getting all stiff from sitting around here anyway."
Aila scrambled to her feet as well, feeling suddenly panicked. "Wait, Danny, I don't think we should split up…"
Danny put his hand on her shoulder and grinned down at her, resting his sword on his shoulder. "Relax, Ailagator. I'll be in right after I take those dumb dark splotches out." He straightened up, flashing her a cocky grin. "I wouldn't leave without you."
Aila smiled a little, not sure why she'd felt so concerned. "'Kay. Sure. Kick their butts."
"Thank you, Danny," Mickey said. He raised his hand to his right ear once again. "Danny's heading over to handle it now," he reported to whoever was on the other end of his communicator. "Aila and I are heading into the castle. We'll keep you posted on the situation."
"Situation?" Aila asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The boys have gotten themselves into a… predicament inside," Mickey explained, his brows furrowed. "Leon's workin' on gettin' 'em out… hopefully he's figured it out by now…"
'Ohhhhh,' Aila thought, shooting Danny a knowing glance. Her brother snickered and she grinned, both of them knowing exactly what predicament the King was referring to.
"I saw that," the King said suddenly, smiling knowingly at the teens.
"Saw what?" Danny asked innocently, winking very conspicuously at Aila.
She rolled her eyes. "You're gonna have to become better at keeping your knowledge of the game a secret," she scoffed.
"Whatever are you talking about, oh sister of mine?" Danny asked, his voice laced with fake ignorance. "What is this 'game' you speak of?" He smirked. "Was that better?"
"No," Aila said bluntly, but she couldn't help but smile at her brother's joking around.
"Okay, well, I'll work on it," Danny said, turning to make his leave. He continued to talk to himself as he left, as if practicing lines for a play. "Game you say? What is a game? I do not understand this word. Oh no, I definitely don't know how Sora ended up in a computer, no sir…"
Aila sighed. "Be quiet before someone hears you, you dummy!" she called. "…And don't use your powers!" He waved without looking back, signaling that he'd heard her, and then disappeared around the corner. Aila rolled her eyes. "Weirdo."
Mickey chuckled, and Aila sweatdropped as she remembered that he was there. She turned, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "Uh… sorry about that, Your M… uh… should we go?"
"Yes, let's," Mickey agreed, still smiling. "We should check on the boys' status."
Aila felt a little awkward as they made their way into the castle, their footsteps echoing around the dimly lit hallway. Okay, scratch that – she felt a lot awkward. Not only was she still fighting an almost instinctual urge to hug the King, but she was also walking next to a King. Should she bow? Clear the way for him? Walk a few steps behind him?
"You okay?" Mickey asked, startling Aila out of her thoughts.
"Wha—yes! I mean, yes sir, I mean, um…"
Mickey chuckled. "Please, Aila, don't be so formal. We're friends now, right?"
Aila had to clench her fists to keep from jumping up and down. "I'm your friend?"
"Well sure ya are!" Mickey said with a kind smile. "You've been helping out friends of mine, and we got to know each other a little just now, didn't we? Though, I suppose you already knew a lot about me before that…" He chuckled.
Aila was happy it was relatively dark in the castle halls; hopefully the King wouldn't see her ridiculously goofy grin. "Cool."
The hallways branched off as Aila and the King rounded the corner, and Aila frowned. "Uh… which way is…?" she began, feeling a vague sense of déjà vu as she remembered the many times she'd gotten turned around in these halls while playing the game.
"I think it's this way," the King said, looking to the left. "Or… hm." He looked back and forth between the hall to the left and the hall straight ahead of them. "Gosh. I guess I shoulda paid more attention."
Aila smiled. "Don't worry, I got this." She pointed back and forth between their two options, chanting "Eenie, meenie, miney…" As she began to point toward the hall to the left again, a handful of Soldier Heartless and a couple of their more powerful cousins, Armored Knights, appeared. "Mo!" she shouted, summoning her weapon in a flash of white light.
"Looks like we've got company," Mickey said, summoning his Keyblade and narrowing his eyes. He glanced at Aila and smiled. "You take the right, I'll take the left?"
She grinned back, falling into a fighting stance. "Deal."
The Heartless charged, and Mickey and Aila leapt into action. Aila had to focus extremely hard on not watching Mickey fight – she could tell even out of the corner of her eye that his moves were amazing, but she had her own fighting to worry about. She slashed a Soldier in front of her, flinging it into the wall on her right with a satisfying clang. Another Soldier lunged at her and she sidestepped out of the way, finishing its stunned friend off with one end of her staff before spinning around and stabbing the other end into the second Soldier, who promptly faded out of existence. She grinned; she really had improved since she'd left this world.
An Armored Knight charged at her and she parried, backing up a few steps under the weight of its attack. "Defend!" she cried, the Reflect spell forming dutifully around her and sending her opponent stumbling back. "Thunder!" Aila called immediately after, lightning bolts striking the Heartless before her first spell had faded away. Stunned, the Armored Knight stumbled into the wall. Aila took advantage of the opening and ran forward, slashing upwards to knock the Heartless into the air and then immediately leaping up and slamming it back into the ground with one final clang!
"Very nice!" Mickey complimented as the Armored Knight faded away. Aila grinned and turned around, intending to thank the King. Instead, she just watched in awe as the mouse launched himself off the wall, somersaulted through the air and collided with the final Armored Knight, slashing it at least five times in lightning fast succession before leaping back and letting the Heartless fall. It faded before hitting the floor, and Mickey dismissed the Keyblade.
"…Whoa," Aila gasped, her mouth agape. His skill was… well, let's just say it was clear why he was the head honcho.
"Let's try this way," Mickey suggested, appearing oblivious to Aila's stares as he continued down the hall the fight had started them down.
"Uh, r-right," Aila replied, shaking her head and hurrying to catch up to the King.
"That's right, I think if we just keep to the left, we should be good," Mickey was saying. Aila followed his lead, more than happy to play follow the leader here. She was feeling a little apprehensive about being inside the castle; it had seemed so far away and dangerous when she'd been on this world before. She knew that she really shouldn't worry; she was pretty sure nothing too bad would happen in here after all, at least not while she and the boys were here. But still, it felt… eerie, to say the least.
Her mind jumped from this thought to the rest of this world's storyline, and she flinched. Everything was about to get bad, and fast. Was she ready for that? Yeah, she'd improved over the past few weeks, but she and the boys were about to go up against an army. That meant that she was going to have to take on hundreds, if not thousands of Heartless and Nobodies all at once! The thought alone sent shivers down her spine.
"You realize you're actively avoiding the thing you're really afraid to think about, don't you?" Celina whispered in her ear. Aila tensed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she murmured back. Mickey's ears twitched and he cast her a sideways glance, which she avoided, instead focusing on getting some tangles out of her ponytail.
"You're going to have to make a decision soon," Celina continued softly. "So… what will you do?"
Aila sighed exasperatedly and ran a hand down her face. She knew exactly what Celina was talking about of course, but… she didn't even know where to begin when it came to thinking about Demyx right now.
"Something wrong?" Mickey asked. Aila looked at him through her fingers and bit her lip.
"Just… I've got a big decision to make," Aila replied quietly.
"I see," the King said. "Anything I can do to help?" The question was sincere, Aila could tell, and she chewed on her lip for a moment, wondering if she should tell the King about her dilemma. He definitely didn't like the Organization… would he be angry at her if she told him what had happened between her, Demyx, and Axel? She didn't like the idea of that…
So she decided to go a different route.
"So… you know that I already know like… what's supposed to happen here and everything, right?"
Mickey smiled. "I guessed that might be the case."
Aila nodded. "Well… since I'm here now, though… if I know that something is supposed to happen… but I really, really don't want it to… is it wrong for me to try and change it?"
Mickey frowned now, looking up at Aila very seriously. "Change the timeline?"
"Y-yeah," Aila said, rubbing her arm. "I mean, I… I know I probably shouldn't meddle and stuff… and I mean, I accidentally meddled before and things didn't turn out so well, so…"
Mickey held up his hand. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Aila." He slowed to a stop, and Aila did the same. "You keep talking like you're an intruder in a story that isn't your own."
"Well… I mean… aren't I?" Aila asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No way," Mickey said firmly. "You're here now, aren't ya? That means you're as much a part of this story as I or anybody else is."
"…I am?"
"Well of course ya are!" Mickey replied with a nod. "This all might be similar to what you know from your world, but it's not the same. You being here is proof of that. And that means that you're free to make any decisions you want. If you feel that you should do something, well then, you're free to do it."
Aila'd never thought of it like that before. Sure, Celina had told her over and over that this wasn't a dream, blah blah blah, and she got that, she really did. But… she'd always thought of it as her being inserted into Sora's story. It hadn't really crossed her mind that maybe this was her story now, too.
"Though…" Mickey continued, sounding a little wary. He looked up at Aila nervously. "It's possible that some things… some things can't be changed. Some things are just written in the stars, and no matter what you do… well…" His expression brightened, and he smiled. "But that doesn't mean you still can't try. Just follow your heart."
Aila furrowed her brow and put a hand over her chest. "…Follow my heart, huh?"
"Yep!" Mickey said with a nod. "If you're ever not sure what to do, just listen to your heart and let it decide for you. Trust me, your heart'll know what the right thing to do is every time."
Aila smiled. "Thanks Your M—Uh… Mickey."
Mickey smiled back. "Anytime." They rounded another corner and found themselves in a rather open room, the entire right wall's piping exposed after years of decay.
"Oh! I know where we are!" Aila exclaimed, recognizing the room. "Ansem's office is right over there, right?" she asked, pointing to a hallway on the left.
"Yep, I think so!" Mickey said with a chuckle. "You must not get lost too often, what with all that prior knowledge of your locations, right?"
"Uhhhh…" Aila said, scratching her cheek awkwardly. "You'd think so, wouldn't you…"
They walked into the hallway Aila had pointed out and immediately knew they were on the right track. The walls in this hall weren't red and purple like in the rest of the hallways' walls, but rather a more sophisticated looking light beige with white accents that gave off an almost regal impression. The dark blue and purple checkered floor they'd become accustomed too had morphed into a purple floor with a blue carpet that seemed to indicate they were nearing somewhere of importance, and there was a door at the end of the hallway etched with a symbol that looked somewhat like a crown in the center: the door to Ansem's room.
"Ah ha! I knew we'd find it," Mickey said triumphantly, leading the way to the door. He grabbed the handle and pushed the door open silently. Before them was indeed Ansem's office, with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Leon all studying something on the wall opposite from the door.
"The DTD. See? The Door to Darkness," Sora was saying, pointing to some scribbles on the wall.
"What do you know," Leon replied, sounding impressed. Aila smiled as she and Mickey entered the room, fiddling with her ponytail a little. She was both excited and nervous about seeing Leon again. "But… that still leaves the password."
"Say fellas, did somebody mention the Door to Darkness?" Mickey asked, announcing his and Aila's arrival and startling the boys before them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned around quickly, their eyes bugging out as they registered who had just entered the room.
"Your Majesty!" the three exclaimed excitedly. Aila giggled and caught Leon's eye, who'd turned around as well. He crossed his arms and smiled a little at her, and she waved.
Mickey put a finger to his lips to shush the boys, looking back into the hallway he and Aila had just come from to make sure they hadn't been followed before hurriedly pushing the door shut. He sighed, pushing his hood back off of his head, but before he had even turned entirely back around he was tackled by Donald. The duck engulfed his friend in a hug, completely overjoyed at the sight of the King. Goofy quickly rushed up to join them, picking his two smaller friends completely up off of the floor in his excitement.
"Long time no see!" Sora waved, rushing up to the King as well. Aila saw Leon walk over to Ansem's desk and made a beeline for him as inconspicuously as possible, trying her best not to interrupt her friends' reunion.
"Well well," Leon said, leaning against the desk as Aila approached. "Look who decided to show up."
"Yeah, the Organization was pretty lame, so I figured I'd head back to you guys," Aila joked, clasping her hands behind her back and looking up at the man before her.
Leon made a sound that, if Aila hadn't known him better, she would have thought was a small chuckle. His expression then grew very serious and he looked her right in the eyes. "You good?"
"Yeah, I'm good," Aila replied earnestly. "You?"
"We're holding our own," Leon said with a nod. He put a hand on Aila's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. Aila grinned up at him.
"I missed you too," she replied softly. Leon smiled ever so slightly.
"The Organization might be listening," Mickey was telling the boys, trying to calm them down. Leon perked up at that and Aila turned around to pay attention. Mickey quickly looked around the cluttered room, as if suspicious of every bookshelf and scrap of paper he saw. After a moment's inspection, he seemed satisfied that it was safe to talk. "You mentioned the Door to Darkness?"
"Uh, yes sir!" Donald and Goofy replied, immediately standing at attention for their King.
"Ya see, we're lookin' for the secret password," Goofy explained.
"Password?" Mickey asked, cocking his head to the side. The boys sighed. Apparently they'd been hoping Mickey would have the password for them. Aila smiled a little at the scene.
"Glad to see you guys are okay," she chimed in, crossing her arms. The boys looked back at her while Mickey pondered about what password they could need.
"Of course!" Sora said confidently. "Why, did you hear we weren't?"
"I heard there was a… situation," Aila smirked, raising an eyebrow. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I thought I might have to come and save your butts."
"You wish," Donald scoffed. Aila stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh! I guess you mean like a code!" the King exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention back to him. The boys looked hopeful again – so he did know the password after all! Leon sighed and smiled a little at the King's mistake, and Aila giggled again. "Well, the Door to Darkness can only be opened by the seven princesses," the King continued. "There's Snow White, Jasmine, and Belle…"
"Of course," Leon interrupted, pushing himself off the desk and making his way toward a hallway on the left side of the room. Mickey watched him go with a curious expression.
"What're you tryin' to do?" the King asked the boys. Aila sat down on the edge of the desk, settling in to watch the rest of the scene.
"With that password, we can get access to Ansem's research data," Sora explained, Donald and Goofy nodding along beside him.
The King looked ecstatic. "So that means you might be able to find out where he is!"
"Stop jokin' around, Your Majesty," Sora laughed. "We already defeated Ansem. You know that." The King's eyes widened in realization, and he shot Aila a glance. Aila smiled and shrugged at him in a way that said 'sorry, yeah, they don't know any of that yet.'
"Hey, what's with the look?" Donald asked suspiciously, looking back and forth between Aila and the King.
"Uh… what look?" Aila asked innocently. Donald glared at her.
"Looks like I've got a lot of explainin' to do," Mickey said, crossing his arms in front of him.
"We're listening, Your Majesty!" Donald said dutifully, he and Goofy standing at the ready.
"Okay… but first, I've got a question…" Sora began.
"Hey, isn't Tron waiting for you guys?" Leon called from the hallway, getting everyone's attention. The boys hesitated and looked back and forth between Leon and the King, seeming unable to make up their minds about whether to stay and talk to the old friend they'd been searching for for so long or to go and help their new friend Tron.
"Don't worry, I'm not goin' anywhere," Mickey promised. "If those Heartless attack, I'll stand and fight with everybody here."
"Yeah, we will too," Sora agreed with a nod.
"Then let's talk more later," Mickey said.
"That's a promise!" Donald replied eagerly, clearly very happy about the idea of getting to finally talk to the King after so long.
The King smiled. "I'll see ya when you get back."
Aila leapt off the desk and stretched a little, anticipating the upcoming journey to somewhere new. She walked up to the boys and leaned on Donald's head. "I'm coming too, right?"
"Wah!" Donald complained, pushing Aila away and glaring up at her. "Of course you are! You running off on your own again was a one time thing!"
"I wasn't on my own," Aila protested, crossing her arms defiantly.
"Speakin' o' that, where's Danny?" Goofy asked, looking around the room as if he thought he might have just missed the boy.
"He's clearing the Bailey," the King replied. "Maybe I should go give him a hand until you guys are done…"
"He's probably taken them all out already," Aila replied, rolling her eyes at the thought of Danny's reckless use of his powers. "I guess you could go yell at him for probably using his powers after you told him not to…"
Mickey frowned. "You think he would?"
Aila sighed and looked away. "I dunno. Maybe he wouldn't…"
"He better not if the King told him not to!" Donald said sternly, wagging his finger at Aila and getting right up in her face, at least as much as he could being so much shorter than her.
"Hey, what're you wagging your finger at me for?!" Aila protested, pushing the duck away.
"He's your brother!"
"So?"
"So keep him in line!"
"He's my brother, not my pet."
"Oh! One more thing," the King said suddenly, getting everyone's attention once again. "Let me give your clothes some new powers, Sora."
"Really?!" Sora asked excitedly. Aila perked up at this – did this mean Sora would get a new Drive form?
"You bet!" Mickey replied with a happy nod. "You've done so much—just consider it a thank you present." Mickey looked at Aila now, a twinkle in his eye. "Aila, Sora's gonna need your help with this one, got it?"
"My help?" Aila asked, flabbergasted. "Uh, are you sure?"
"Positive," the King replied. "Just trust your heart like we talked about, okay?"
"Uh… s-sure," Aila stuttered, taken aback by this turn of events. The King summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at Sora, a warm yellow light engulfing the boy. A moment later the light spread to Aila, and in the few seconds before the light faded she felt a strange sense of oneness with the Keyblade Master.
"Thanks, Your Majesty!" Sora said as the last remnants of light faded away. Aila blinked. So… was she part of one of his Drive forms now…? "We're heading off to see Tron now, so wait here for us, okay?"
"I will, Sora," the King replied kindly. "And remember – be careful!"
"We will!" the boys replied in unison, and they began to walk off toward the hallway Leon had disappeared into. Aila started to follow them, but then paused and looked back at the King. Should she ask him? She really wanted to ask him…
"What's up, Aila?" Mickey asked, cocking his head. The boys stopped midstep and turned back, giving Aila a questioning look.
"Uh, w-well…" Aila began, rubbing her arm nervously. "This might be kinda weird, but… can… can I hug you?"
"What?!" Donald squawked. "Aila! You're speaking to a King!"
"I-I know!" Aila stuttered, feeling her face redden. "I just, I mean, he kinda answered some questions for me and, and I'm just… excited to meet him, I guess…"
Mickey chuckled. "Of course, Aila."
Donald, who had been about to yell at Aila again, snapped his beak shut. "Uh… really?"
"'Course!" Mickey said with a nod. Before the word had finished leaving his mouth Aila had leapt forward, kneeling down and engulfing the King in a very excited hug. Mickey laughed and hugged her back, and Aila had a strange sense of one of her deepest and oldest dreams coming true at that very moment.
"It's really really really awesome to meet you," she whispered into Mickey's ear, her cheeks straining as she smiled an impossibly large smile.
"You too," Mickey replied kindly.
They both pulled away and Aila scurried to her feet, grinning like a fool. "Okay, well, we gotta go do some stuff now," she said quickly, turning on her heel and marching past the boys, all of whom were looking slightly flabbergasted.
"Uh… what she said, I guess," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head in confusion as he turned to follow Aila into the hallway.
"Aila! You can't go around hugging Kings whenever you feel like it!" Donald squawked as the boys all caught up to her.
"Sorry," Aila said, still grinning and not actually sounding sorry at all.
"Gwarsh Aila, I didn't know you liked huggin' so much!" Goofy laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a side hug. "You shoulda told us! Ahyuck!"
Aila laughed, returning Goofy's hug as best she could while they walked. "Hugs are the best!"
"Hugs hugs hugs!"
Something blue and fuzzy slammed into Aila's middle, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to tumble to the ground. "Ng…" she moaned, trying to catch her breath. "What the…?"
"Chiba?" the little blue thing asked, standing up on Aila's stomach and looking down at her questioningly. Aila blinked a few times before realizing exactly who this thing was. Stitch.
"Not you again!" Donald quacked, pointing angrily at the intruder. "You got us arrested!"
"Eh, scoopa," the little blue fuzzball said with a dismissive wave of his tiny clawed hand. Donald did not appreciate the gesture.
"Ah!" Aila exclaimed excitedly, sitting up and pulling Stitch into a hug. "You are sooo cute!"
"Hug!" Stitch replied happily, returning Aila's hug.
"Aw, guess he's a good guy after all," Goofy chuckled, rubbing his nose a little as he watched the scene.
"I guess so," Sora said. He knelt down next to Aila, getting Stitch's attention. "You didn't mean to make the MCP mad at us before, did you?"
"Nada," Stitch said with a firm shake of his head. He pointed at Donald and jabbered something that sounded rather accusatory.
"Huh, I think he's sayin' that it was technically you who got us arrested, Donald," Goofy suggested.
"What?!" Donald squawked. "No it wasn't!"
"Well, I mean, it kinda was," Sora said, smirking at his feathered friend. Stitch nodded with a small 'eh' of affirmation, and Aila giggled. Donald looked livid.
"Can we take him with us?!" Aila asked eagerly, picking up stitch and holding him out in front of her. "Look how adorable he is!" Stitch licked some boogers out of his nose.
"Uh… yeah… cute," Sora said rather skeptically. "But we can't take someone who can't fight." Stitch scoffed at this, wriggling out of Aila's hands and summoning two plasma guns out of thin air. He shot the wall twice, burning two very large holes into the décor. "…Okay, maybe he can fight."
"So can he come?" Aila asked eagerly. She loved Stitch.
"No way!" Donald said, stomping his foot.
"Why not?!" Aila pouted.
"Because I don't like him, that's why not!"
Stitch sat on the ground and gave the group his best puppy dog eyes, his long ears drooping low behind his head.
"I guess he is kinda cute," Sora said slowly.
"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to let him tag along," Goofy said.
"He'll get in our way!" Donald shouted stubbornly. Stitch babbled a few things and ran over to a corner of the hallway, picking something up off the floor that the group hadn't noticed. He hurried back over to Sora and held whatever he'd just retrieved up to the boy.
"Hey… this looks kinda like… a Summon charm?" Sora asked, taking the pendant Stitch was holding out to him. The moment he took it, Stitch vanished, seeming to get sucked into the pendant in Sora's hands. "Oh… he's a summon!"
"So that's a yes on us taking him with us, right? He won't get in the way if he's in there," Aila pointed out.
"Sure, we'll take him with us," Sora laughed.
"Awesome!" Aila exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air triumphantly. "Let's summon him now!"
"No!" Donald squawked, sounding extremely irked. "We're wasting time out here – we gotta go help Tron!"
"Oh yeah," Aila and Sora said at the same time, both of them hurrying to their feet. Sora pocketed Stitch's summon charm and the four of them hurried down the hall toward the computer room.
"Whoa," Aila gasped, looking over the rail as the hallway opened up on the left side. The room below them was massive, the walls lines with hundreds upon hundreds of pods. What the pods were for, Aila had no idea, but she did know that Heartless were gonna be generated from that room eventually. A lot of Heartless. She gulped.
"Pretty crazy, right?" Sora asked. "We had no idea this place was even down here."
Aila nodded, lost in thought. "That would make such an awesome Gummi bay…"
"Hm, that's a good idea," Goofy said, putting a finger to his chin. "Maybe the Committee could reconfigurate it."
"Maybe… once it's safe," Aila said, narrowing her eyes at the vast room below. They continued into the computer room on their right and were immediately confronted by a girl with long brown hair.
"So, you found the person you were looking for, huh?" the girl, who Aila recognized as Tifa, asked. Aila was a little shocked to see her here; she had thought that she and the King had probably missed Tifa's exploration of this part of the castle. Tifa crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I guess if you look long enough, you're bound to find your man."
"Uh… I guess so," Sora replied a little unsurely.
Tifa suddenly thrust her hand out to Aila. "We haven't met yet. I'm Tifa."
"Aila," Aila said, shaking the older girl's hand.
"Have you seen a guy with spikey hair around here?" Tifa asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, there's this one," Aila said, jabbing her thumb at Sora.
"Heh, your friends had the same reaction when I asked them," Tifa chuckled. "Oh well, lemme know if you see him. Hm… where should I look next…" She wandered off without waiting for anyone to reply.
"…She knows she didn't give us a very good description, right?" Aila murmured to the boys, all of them watching Tifa go curiously. The boys just shrugged.
"You boys ready?" Leon asked from the computer console.
"Yep!" Sora replied, the gang hurrying over to stand in front of the giant red transporter device opposite the control panel. "Okay Aila, just stand here. This thing'll transport us to Tron's world."
"Cool," Aila said, examining the transporter before her.
"Aila, you're going too?" Leon asked. Aila and the boys turned to face him.
"Well yeah," Aila said, crossing her arms. Leon frowned, seeming to disapprove of the idea. "I'll be careful, I promise," Aila sighed. It seemed Leon was still a little protective of her, even after she'd been away for as long as she had. Or maybe it was because of that.
"Don't worry Leon, we won't let her get into any trouble," Goofy chuckled, putting his hands on Aila's shoulders.
"Yeah, she'd better not get into any," Donald warned sternly, crossing his arms.
"See? I'm in good hands," Aila smiled. "You're the one who suggested I go with them on their journey anyway, remember?"
Leon sighed. "Right." He turned back to the console. "Okay, brace yourselves."
The gang did as they were told, bracing themselves as they faced the transporter once again. It began to glow, and after a few moments four beams of blue light shot out of it and hit Aila and her companions head on. Aila immediately had the sensation of being unable to move a single muscle as the light scanned her body, a grid of blue light covering ever inch of her as the computer registered her shape. Blue light engulfed her vision, and the next thing she knew she was being pulled out of this world and into one unlike any she'd visited before:
Space Paranoids.
KHKHKHKH
Woo! New world!
I don't expect Space Paranoids to take too terribly long here, so we'll be back in Hollow Bastion soon enough. And you know what that means – the Heartless siege is a' comin'!
And with the Heartless siege comes the final battle with a certain Nobody, at least as far as the original storyline is concerned. Looks like Aila has a little more time to decide what to do about Demyx… What do you guys think she'll end up doing? Will she save him, or not? The King basically gave her the okay to do what she feels is best… but who can say what's best in this situation anymore?
Thanks for reading! Please leave a review to let me know what you think~ I love reading your reviews so much :) You all rock!
Until next time!
~FP