Organization Cheese
A/N: Hello dear readers! THE END IS NIGH! The Cheese will soon be drawing to a close. Please stay with us until the end. We've got an epic epilogue planned. :D Please enjoy and review! We love reviews! Let us know if you want to see anything else in the story before it is over!
Disclaimer: We do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney, thank you very much.
Chapter 34: Explanations and Revelations
"Are you cheating on Minnie with Aerith?" Tifa shrieked, "How dare you do that to her infinitely kind majesty!"
"Stay away from my woman!" Cloud growled, raising his sword.
"Of all the women in the world, you're cheating on the queen with her?" Namine rolled her eyes. "Tsk. How lame."
"No..." came Aerith's ragged gasp as she approached Mickey slowly, hand still clutched to her heart, "His Majesty wouldn't do such a thing. His Majesty is...infinitely loyal...to his wife and to his comrades."
"Aerith, dear... Do allow me to explain," the king said gently, "Do not waste your energy, Aerith, for I fear you do not have much time left."
Cloud looked painfully up at the king, tears brimming in his eyes. "What's going on, Your Majesty? What's really going on here?" Cloud's voice was weakening, for he was tired of this ordeal, as was everyone in the discotheque.
"Alright... I suppose I have wreaked enough havoc, my friends." The King sighed deeply, "As much fun as it was toying with your lives, the time has come for explanations and revelations... And then THE BIGGEST PARTY THE UNIVERSE HAS EVER SEEN."
In response to his explanation, Mickey received only glares, bloodlust, and raised weapons.
"Now, now, comrades," Mickey soothed, raising his hands, "Before you attack, let's not forget who's the king here... And who saved ALL OF YOUR LIVES."
"WHAT IN THE *BEEP*ING WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, KING?" Riku could take no more. "We each almost died about five times for you and in the name of this silly quest! *Beep*, Aerith did die! Twice!"
"LISTEN WHEN I SPEAK, PATHETIC IMBECILE," Mickey yelled most menacingly. "Ahem. I meant, hold on a sec, ol' buddy. Your sacrifices were not in vain! You see, I had two goals in mind when I sent you out on this epic quest: Throw Minnie the biggest birthday party in all the worlds, and save everyone who survived the last war with the heartless from the seeds of darkness!"
"The seeds...of darkness?" Sora squeaked, frightened, hugging himself.
"Yes...THE SEEDS OF DARKNESS, that were planted deeply in all of you as the war progressed. As each of you fought the darkness, you absorbed it, little by little into yourself. It grew with each heartless you killed, as you emerged from each battle covered in darkness. It entered your lungs as you breathed in the tainted air, it worked its way through your bloodstream, and it finally settled into your hearts. Once there, it accumulated, and was only aggravated by every feeling of fear and frustration you each experienced during the war. Unless I found a way to stop it, each and every one of you would have been consumed by the darkness, and ultimately either utterly controlled or murdered by it. However, luckily for you all, I discovered that the Cheese of Youth had immense purifying and cleansing powers."
"But didn't you use the Cheese on Aerith?" Kairi asked, her Mohawk sparkling in the disco ball light.
"You thought we used the Cheese of Youth on Aerith... but actually, I had Sephiroth use it on everyone BUT her. Why do you think she didn't wake up after Sephiroth released it?" Mickey spread his arms out and laughed.
"Lord Sephiroth... Is this true?" Tifa whispered, shaking.
"'Tis true... Mickey specifically instructed me to use the cheese on everyone but Aerith and the resurrected Organization members, since your infections died with you." Sephiroth shrugged. "Im actually feeling a lot nicer now that I've been purified by the cheese."
"That's my man," Namine cooed, giving Sephiroth a smooch, "Always the hero."
"But then why is Aerith alive? And why were we resurrected?" Roxas asked, on the verge of another mental breakdown.
"And why did we go through all of this torture?" Riku yelled, pulling at his hair, "You could have just sent us a normal invitation!"
"What can I say? I wanted the biggest party for Minnie, I required reliable waiters, you imbeciles needed intelligent guides to the Castle and I'm not getting any younger and that bucket list was looking mighty long." Mickey shrugged and waved his hand dismissively. "As for Aerith, she was never truly living in the first place... what you brought back from the other world, Roxas, was a copy of Aerith made completely from darkness... A nobody with a heart made only of darkness, possessing Aerith's body. Once Larxene killed her off, I was free to use the last bit of cheese I saved to resurrect her. Sephiroth did not have the magical capacity to resurrect her – I had to specially use my infinite powers to boost the Cheese's effect. Now all Aerith needs is her heart, and she will live again, as the complete and untainted human being that she deserves to be. I felt that she was justified in having a second chance at life."
"Yes," agreed Sephiroth. "I really have tried to turn over a new leaf, and Mickey is helping me atone for my horrendous sins." He blushed, looking down, ashamed.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT..." Riku started. "So why did Zexion drink Cloud's/Aerith's heart? And why is he dying?"
"Ah, good question, Riku! I see you certainly picked up some of my spunkiness while you were trapped in Kingdom Hearts with me, eh?" Mickey questioned.
Riku stared back blankly, just wanting his answer.
"Well, you see, Sephiroth was a very evil man, and when he killed Cloud with his own hands, he transmitted a large amount of darkness to Cloud's heart. Then, when Roxas sent Aerith and Cloud back together from the Promised Land, some of Aerith's darkness was transferred to Cloud as well. Darkness still consumes a person even in the afterlife, so that explains why Aerith's impurities were still with her being. So, Cloud accumulated not only his own darkness, but some of Sephiroth's, plus Aerith's, much of which also came from Sephiroth because that *beep*er killed HER, too! Therefore, there is no way that foul substance could ever be put into Aerith's revived being. Even though Cloud's heart WAS purified by the cheese, he possessed too much darkness for it to be cleansed completely. Therefore, Zexion extracted the remaining evil and consumed it, sacrificing his newfound purity for Aerith's sake." Mickey clasped his hands together as if praying and bowed to Zexion, displaying his deep gratitude.
"Oh, wow...I don't know what to say," Cloud commented
"Me neither...I had no idea, Zexion. I feel like a far inferior person to you. I am forever thankful to you for saving my favorite actress!" Axel explained, causing Zexion to become a bit flustered.
"THANKS, BRO! LUV YA!" Rikku exclaimed. She stepped forward, arms outstretched, ready to embrace Zexion, but he stepped back in turn. "Oh...no...problem. It was nothing! Just...pleasedon'tgivemeahugI'mnotaveryhuggypersonIdon'tlikebeingtouched...okay? Back away please! I take pride in my personal tollbooth of space!" Zexion, always a bit of a germophobe, was talking a mile a minute.
"TOOOO BAD!" Kairi shouted, and all at once, the entire crowd ran up to Zexion(being extra careful not to step on his luscious now-floor-length locks), embracing him in the biggest bear hug in Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, AND Disney history combined.
After the group had been hugging for nearly five minutes, Zexion was quite overwhelmed, and Riku felt it his duty to interrupt the happy moment with, "Wait, what's going to happen to Zexion now? Isn't he dying?"
Mickey solemnly responded, "Zexion will live, but he will someday be so completely engulfed in darkness that he will be consumed by it, surrendering his entire being to it. However, the Cheese luckily purified enough of Cloud's heart that Zexion will have quite some time before that ever happens. Therefore, we don't have to worry about that too much right now.
The crowd Ooh'ed and Aww'ed. "So Zexion really did know it all, huh?" Sora asked.
"Well, yes, of course, but anyone could have figured all of this out. All one had to do was read, just like me." Zexion replied humbly.
"Yeah, I'll just keep on leaving that to you..." Sora joked.
"But, " Zexion hesitated, looking down, " there IS one thing I have yet to figure out...and it's been torturing me so."
Sora, as well as the other hundred-something-odd guests, all leaned forward, listening intently.
"Where-" Zexion started.
All of a sudden, a portal of darkness appeared on the dance floor, startling the many members of the crowd. A blond man ran out frantically, holding a vial filled with a radioactive green liquid.
"I'VE FOUND IT! THE CURE! THE CURE FOR THE DARKNESS!" The man ran up to Mickey, exasperated. "King Mickey! I have found a remedy to cure everyone! To eradicate the seeds of darkness growing among us all! T'is right here!" he raised his hand holding the vial.
"Ansem the Wise...sorry, dude, the deed is done. You're just a tad too late." Axel noted, walking up to the new guest.
"WHAT?" Ansem frantically looked around, finally noticing his disco-themed surroundings and all the members of the KH universe in his presence. " WHAT IS THIS? WHAT'S GOING ON?"
Tifa stepped forward to towards the frantic Ansem. "You...didn't know? This is the final unraveling of the King's epic masterpiece of a plan to throw Minnie a birthday party and save Aerith and purge everyone of their inner darkness. I thought I gave you an invitation!"
Ansem the Wise wiggled a little, looking faint and a bit wobbly in the knees. "I...I had no idea. That slip that you delivered to me...it told me to get to work on this immediately. It told me nothing of a happy event such as this..." His voice sounded distant and far-off. "I've been slaving away underground in the laboratory this entire time. And now I find out it was all in vain? Ahh, I do not think I can handle this!" Ansem shuddered and his eyes began to roll back in his head.
"WAIT!" The King ran forward, catching his old pal just in time before he became unconscious and hit the ground. "This was all part of my plan! Your research was not in vain! You see, there is still one person in desperate need of your services!" Ansem came to his senses and asked direly, "WHO?"
A single frail cough escaped from Zexion's plush, soft lips as he felt all eyes in the room shift to him. "Um..." he stuttered and awkwardly pointed to himself, "Me?"