Hollow Bastion
Sora's sword was different than before. For one, it was a sword, with a proper blade and everything. But Dani couldn't shake off the feeling that she had seen it somewhere before. Perhaps in a dream…
But if Sora noticed his sword was different than before, he did not say anything. Instead, he raised it towards the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, allowing the Light to lock the Darkness.
"Alright, now that that's taken care of…" Sora turned to the four of them, his usual expression suddenly serious. "There's something we should talk about."
"Can't it wait until we're off this world?" Penny asked. "I don't want to have to stay here longer than I need to."
"No. Well…maybe? But it involves this world, too. See—"
Sora was cut off by the sounds of a skirmish in the distance. Dani immediately summoned her Keyblade and moved into a fighting stance, ready for whatever big and scary Heartless this place had left to throw at them. She wasn't about to lose Sora again.
That was hardly necessary, for in the blink of an eye, whatever big and scary Heartless this place had left to throw at them collided against the wall before fading back into Darkness.
Dani was too busy looking at the effect that she almost forgot to look at the cause. Leon strode towards them, his sword swung over his shoulder, looking all cool-like. Behind him were the others of Traverse Town; Yuffie with a shuriken bigger than she was, Aerith with a staff, Cid with a lance on his back and a cigarette in his mouth, and Cloud, his one wing contracting to reveal a Kairi behind him.
"Leon!" Sora exclaimed. "I'm so glad to see you guys again!"
"We got a distress signal from your ship." Cid said. "Figured you kids needed all the help you could get if you were heading here."
Sora pouted slightly at the insult, but his expression quickly gave way to confusion.
"I never sent a distress signal…" Sora said.
"Neither did we. We didn't get the chance." Hanna said.
"Wasn't hard." Kairi spoke up. "There was a big red button on the console board."
Kairi played with a strand of hair behind her ear as she spoke, conveniently giving her the excuse to not look them in the eyes. That didn't quite sound like the Kairi Sora had talked about so fondly…but Dani guessed anyone would be nervous at the end of the world.
"Well, I should probably tell you guys what's going on too." Sora said. "Let's head back to Traverse Town. We need to get the Princesses out of here before the final battle, and we could use a chance to restock on supplies."
Traverse Town
Merlin probably shouldn't have left her alone with his stuff.
"Alright, what do you do?" Dani asked out loud as she held up the Fireglow charm. The summon charm responded to her magic and glowed as it released the creature inside. Smoke poured from the gem. Dani thought to cast a quick Water spell just in case, but she was distracted as she noticed a shadow moving along the smoke. A terrifying shape, serpentine but with a lion's head, large and imposing against the clouds.
"A dragon!" She squealed in excitement.
"That's right! So you just sit back while I bring the fire!"
That wasn't what she expected a dragon to sound like. And that wasn't what she expected a dragon to look like. He was more of a gecko than a dragon, standing on two legs at barely 6 inches tall.
"Oh, you're cute!" Dani said.
"Wh—'cute'?!" The dragon said. "Who you're callin' 'cute'? I'm a bona fide guardian dragon!"
"Okay, so what can you do?"
"Stand back!"
The bona fide guardian dragon turned to the assemblage of furniture that Merlin had set up as training dummies. He cracked his knuckles as smoke began to curl around him once more. From the smoke emerged a sea of fire balls, each a little bigger than a bowling ball. The dragon waved his little arms and sent them barreling towards the furniture, destroying each piece.
"How do ya like that?" The dragon said, turning back to Dani once his attack was over. "Cute and lethal!"
"That could be useful if we're going up against a horde of Heartless…" Dani thought out loud.
"The Heartless? Oh, I'll fight those guys for free!"
"Good, we can use all the help we can get."
That was the last of the summon charms, then. Dani already had a plan for the Watergleam and Earthshine gems, and although the deer had been cute, the Naturespark gem was probably better off with Penny or Donald if they needed to quickly recharge their magic.
"Hey Merlin, I'm finished with the charms! Got anything else for me?" She called.
No one responded.
"Merls?"
Still no answer.
"Hey Merlin, if you don't answer me now, that gives me permission to go through your stuff and find something useful myself!"
No answer. So Dani turned away from the makeshift training room and explored the magician's study. For the most part, the magician's house was the ordinary amount of messy, not the cool kind where there were a lot of magical artifacts strewn about and things exploded on occasion. There was a table set up with equipment that reminded Dani of Charlie's junior chemistry playset, brewing what looked like potions. Books were haphazardly stacked on every clear surface, but a quick glance at a couple of them showed that they were more spells for daily life and not combat.
"Hey, wait a second!" Dani said as one book caught her eye.
The illustration on the cover was blank, which was a little weird. But the title was still there as clear as day: Winnie the Pooh
"I used to love this book as a kid!" Dani said. "I wonder where he found it…"
"Hey kid, you sure you should be snoopin' around a wizard's library?" The dragon asked from his placed perched on her shoulder.
"I read this book when I was five! What's it going to do, give me nightmares?"
Dani opened up the book. But instead of finding charming illustrations and even more charming words, the pages were filled with magic. Dani was absorbed in light, and vanished without a trace.
"Well, I don't know what she was expectin'." Mushu said before he, too, vanished back into the Summon Gem.
Traverse Town
"So…" Penny said, holding her hands together as if she were praying that this weren't the case. With both hands, she pointed towards Sora. "Time travel?"
"It's more complicated than that." Sora said. "See, I actually traveled to a different worldline that was in the past—"
"Nope, we're already at our peak of complications, we're going to have to simplify it." Penny said.
"So what's the future like?" Katie asked. "Are we rich and famous or anything?"
"See, that's the thing…" Sora looked away, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't remember much about my original worldline. I think maybe something bad happened and that's the reason I came here…maybe we lost the battle against Xehanort?"
"Oh no!" Katie said. "Who's Xehanort?"
"But I don't even remember the battle!" Sora said. "I think maybe the last thing I remember was when I failed my Mark of Mastery…"
"What's the Mark of Mastery?"
"But even that's fuzzy!"
"What's 'but'?"
"We can worry about getting all the details later. Sounds like we still have plenty of time." Leon said. "Right now, let's focus on the present. Past. Whatever."
"Oh, right! The end of the world!" Sora said.
"Did you forget?" Leon asked.
"Hey, this is like my third end of the world, give me a break."
"I guess that means we have a pretty good chance of getting out of this alive." Penny said.
"That's the other thing…" Sora said. "See, in my original worldline…you guys weren't there."
"Huh." Penny said. "Did you just…never meet us?"
"I don't know. I don't think so." Sora said.
The two girls pondered over this revelation. In Penny's mind, it wasn't startling or depressing, just…strange. What changed in this…world timeline or whatever? Why were they here now?
"Well, we're here now." Katie said.
"Then let's get you ready." Leon said. "Anything you want to do, now's the time to get it taken care of."
Hundred Acre Woods
Chapter I: In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and Our Story Begins Again
The Hundred Acre Woods looked exactly as Dani had imagined it all these years. It was the perfect place to take a walk with a bear, or play Pooh-Sticks with a pig, or bounce around in the autumn leaves with a tiger. The only thing that was missing from it, as far as Dani could tell, were those pigs and tigers.
But she did find a bear, a Winnie-the-Pooh to be exact, sitting on a large oak log and thinking to himself. She could tell this was what he was doing, because he would often press his paws into his temples and mutter "think, think, think…" to himself.
"Hallo there, Pooh Bear," said Dani.
"Hallo there, Someone I Haven't Met Yet," said Pooh Bear.
"My name is Dani," said Dani, as she sat to join him.
"Well, hallo Dani, but I'm afraid I must be saying goodbye soon," said Pooh.
"Why? I just got here," said Dani.
"Yes, but it seems like everyone in the Hundred Acre Woods is disappearing," said Pooh. "You see, I was feeling quite hungry, so I went to go see my good friend Eeyore, but I could not find him anywhere. And then I could not find my other good friends either. Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Piglet…even my favorite Hunny Tree is gone. I think they must have left when I was napping. So who knows? Maybe I'll end up going somewhere as well."
"That sounds horrifying," said Dani. "What if I helped you look for them?"
"Would you?" said Pooh.
"Sure thing!"
"Then, perhaps, could we start by looking for the Hunny Tree? Looking for everyone sounds like it could be hard, and I would like a small smakerel of something to eat first."
So they left the oak log in search of an oak tree. Dani watched the woods, watching them changed from a real forest to watercolor paintings to faint sketches. But Pooh listened instead, listening for a buzzing noise to guide their way. Because he was a bear of little brain, but if he knew anything, he knew that the only reason to make a buzzing noise was if you were a bee. And the only reason to be a bee, that he knew of, was to make honey. And the only reason to make honey was so he could eat it.
Soon the forest began to appear again, and Pooh began to hear a buzzing noise, and the two arrived at the Hunny Tree.
"So how do we get up there?" said Dani.
"I was hoping you knew," said Pooh. "Perhaps, if we were bees, then we wouldn't have to worry about climbing and we could just fly."
"But I can't fly," said Dani. "So I guess we can climb."
And so Winnie the Pooh and Dani climbed the Hunny Tree.
They climbed,
and they climbed,
and they climbed,
and as they climbed Pooh began to hum a little hum.
"And I called it my 'Rumbly in My Tumbly' song," said Pooh.
Yes, yes he did. Then they climbed a little further…and a little further more…and by that point Pooh was getting rather tired, and he could just reach the honey if he just stood on that branch…
Crack!
"Oh bother!" said Pooh as he dropped to the branch below him.
"You see, I hadn't—" He said, as he bounced on the branch below that.
"See, what I meant to do—" He said, as he bounced on the branch below that.
"And it all comes, I suppose," He said, as he tried to catch himself on another branch. "From liking honey so much!"
Pooh said goodbye to the last branch and feel gracefully into the gorse-bush below him.
("What's a gorse-bush?" you asked.
"You know, I'm not sure myself." I said.)
"Are you okay, Pooh?" said Dani as she climbed down to meet him.
Winnie the Pooh crawled out of the gorse-bush, brushed the prickles off of his nose, and began to think again.
"I think," said Pooh. "I think we need to think some more about getting this hunny."
Traverse Town
Darkness.
Darkness as far as the eye couldn't see. No thing to interact with. No path he could travel. No person he could talk to.
That was where Charlie's Heart was, but sometimes, he could tell when his body moved on its own. Most of the time it was taking orders from Riku or Maleficent, but sometimes he could feel himself move freely around Hollow Bastion, testing out puzzles and trying to use a brain too muddled in the Dark to figure out how it worked.
And sometimes, he could see a Light, and he would remember where he was.
But now the Light surrounded him, making a path for him to travel. It was blinding, like staring into the sun, but it was warm as well. And the further Charlie's Heart followed it, the more he felt his body return to him.
Well…most of his body. Seems like even the Darkness couldn't cure paralysis.
"—uck?" Charlie gasped as he came back to life.
It took him a few minutes to get his bearings. He had not realized how much the Darkness felt like drowning. His lungs gasped for air and his body shook violently as it was filled with a Heart again. He vaguely recognized Hanna as the one that scooped him up and put him back into a chair.
Slowly, he started to see past the light. There was Hanna, of course, but he didn't recognize the other women in elaborate ballgowns. What had happened? Where was Riku?
He didn't realize he had asked that out loud until he felt Hanna's hand in his grow even tighter.
"Riku's gone." Hanna said. "Someone did the same thing to him that he did to you. We're going to get him back."
"Then let me help!" Charlie said.
"Like hell we will!" Hanna snapped. "We just got you back!"
"Yeah, and I know stuff about the Realm of Darkness, so I can help!"
"Or you could get yourself lost in it again!"
"What do you want me to do, sit around and wait while my friend could be lost in the Darkness forever?"
"He was about to do the same thing to you!"
"You said he also got possessed by the Darkness, that's at least one degree of separation there!" Charlie said. "Besides, Riku's my friend. Or at least, he could be! And he doesn't have anyone else on his side right now!"
Hanna froze, and for a minute Charlie wondered if there was a little more Darkness in him that made him take things a bit too far. She sighed and turned away.
"Alright. I'll trust you. But make sure to come back to us, alright?"
Charlie nodded, and opened up a Corridor of Darkness.
No one in Traverse Town really knew what to do next. The next few moments would decide the future: either return it to Light, or damn it to Darkness. The more common citizens returned to their homes. The Princesses continued to pray for Light within Cid's shop. The others stayed on top of the ducks' shop, and watched.
Cloud resumed his brooding. He had never gotten a chance to see Traverse Town for very long. It had always passed in a blur of emotions. Grief. Defeat. Fear. Guilt. Rage. Foolhardiness. A sense of determination that he could change things that was clouded by the hindsight that he just made it worse.
Mostly rage.
But that did not make it a bad town. And now perhaps because the possibility that his old one could be returned, he decided to see it for the first time. It was a pleasant world. They had probably had to work hard to keep it that way, but the work shone through. Aerith must like it here.
Tifa would like it here too.
Somebody joined him. He was prepared to glare them away, but stopped as he saw who it was.
"It's peaceful out here, isn't it?" Aerith asked lazily.
His wing twitched. He gave a noncommittal grunt. Aerith sat down next to him, and he panicked.
"We've all missed you." She said. "We thought you had passed away along with Radiant Gardens."
Oh whatever god or lifeforce decided to take him, this was not the conversation he wanted to have oh no no no
He shrugged. "Got a bit lost along the way."
"Oh?"
She decided not to press any further. That was the one saving grace in this entire conversation.
"I wonder if anyone else was able to make it." She thought aloud.
Cloud didn't answer. Did she know? Aerith always had a way of knowing things nobody told her. If she knew, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
"Miss Katie said that when they found you, you were looking for something. Have you found it yet?"
Cloud hesitated. "I don't want you involved."
"You don't want our help?"
Memories of what could have been flashed before his eyes. "I don't want you hurt."
"I'm stronger than you think."
"I know. And that's why I don't want you hurt."
Silence fell over them. Just faintly, he could hear the sounds of shouting from within the building. Considering it was run by ducklings, he didn't pay it too much mind.
"Alright. I'll trust you. But make sure to come back to us, alright?"
And Cloud, take care of yourself. So you don't have a breakdown, okay?
"Yeah."
Hundred Acre Woods
Chapter II: In Which There is a Blustery Day in the Hundred Acre Woods, and Pooh Reunites With Many of His Friends
Dani and Pooh decided to head to Pooh's Thoughtful Spot, which was the place Pooh went whenever he had thoughts to think. And it was a good thing they decided to go, for in that moment the next page of the book was put in and the winds began to change. Pooh's Thoughtful Spot was a sheltered place surrounded by green, so the two did not have to worry about the winds as Pooh began to think.
But it was not so good thing for Piglet, who was very small and had a hard time in the winds. And just as Pooh and Dani were thinking in their Thinking Spot, Piglet happened to blow by, swept away on a leaf.
"Oh, welcome back, Piglet," said Pooh. "We were so sorry about you."
"W-w-well, I'm worried about myself, too!" said Piglet. "Help!"
Dani rushed out for Piglet, and managed to snag the end of his scarf. But the fabric was thin and her nails were sharp, so she ended up ripping a hole into the fabric and grasping on to thread. Under the force of the winds and Dani's grip, the scarf began to unravel, until it was a single long line of thread that Piglet was grasping on to.
"Hold on tight, Piglet!" said Pooh.
The winds did not stop, even as Piglet ran out of pages to fly through and the author had to put in new ones. Piglet flew through the Hundred Acre Woods like a kite. Over Kanga and Roo's house…
above Rabbit's garden…
past Eeyore' house…
And Dani and Pooh did their best to hold on to their friend. They held on to Piglet as they rushed by Kanga and Roo's house…
and through Rabbit's rutabaga patch…
and through Eeyore's house…
But eventually, the winds were too strong for the two of them, and they, too, got swept away by it.
If Dani could fly, she may have been able to get through the winds herself. She could have reached out for Pooh, and Pooh could have reached out for Piglet, and the three of them could have landed somewhere safe.
"But I can't fly," said Dani.
So instead she ended up slamming right into Owl's house on the large oak tree.
"I say," said Owl. "It seems that someone has pasted Piglet and Pooh onto my window!"
"And Dani's here to," said Pooh. "May we come in?"
"Of course," said Owl.
Owl opened the window, allowing the three to be blown inside.
"Well, at least we found some of your friends, Pooh," said Dani.
"Yes," said Pooh "But we still haven't found the hunny."
("Here it is," I said. "Ulex, also known as furze, whin, or gorse bush. It is a genus of flowering plants in the Fabaceae family."
"I see," you said, but I don't think you did.)
Traverse Town
They found a quiet spot in Leon's hidey hole. It reminded him a lot of the Secret Place…gosh, when was the last time he had been to the Secret Place? When this whole journey started? But when even was that? How many times had he been here and he just couldn't remember it?
Sora couldn't wait to go back there. With both Kairi and Riku in tow.
"It's peaceful down here. Reminds me of back home." Kairi said, echoing Sora's own thoughts. "Do you think we'll go back there again?"
"Of course we will!" Sora said. "I'll defeat Ansem and then—"
He stumbled on a gap in his memory. It was probably better not to tell Kairi too much about the future.
"And then what?" Kairi said. "How do you know for sure what will happen? What if something bad happens? What if I can't find you again?"
Where was this coming from? He didn't recall Kairi being so…worried for him. Had he done something to change this worldline without realizing it?
"Is what you have to do…really worth it?" Kairi finished, staring at the ground.
"What are you talking about? Riku—"
"Those other girls can save him, I'm sure." Kairi said, her gaze changing from the ground to the wall opposite him. "And you can stay here with me, where it's safe."
No, this was starting to add up. Kairi had been worried right before the storm had hit Destiny Islands. She had asked him to leave Riku behind then, too. But Riku was just as much a part of Sora's Heart as Kairi was. He couldn't just leave him behind, even if he knew it would work out in the end.
"Kairi, you don't believe that. I know you don't." Sora said. "You care about Riku just as much as I do. And if you had the Keyblade, you would be doing everything you could to save him too."
"Right…" Kairi said, although her voice was still weak. "Of course."
It was then that Sora noticed her hand was clutched around something. Thalassa shells bound together with string and beads, with a small face carved into the top. Her lucky charm.
He never did really give it back to her, in the end. She always had a way of giving it back to him. Here she was giving it back to him now.
But the shells were a lot sharper than he remembered them being. And was that a smear of blood where the face should be?
Hundred Acre Woods
Chapter III: In Which Tigger Is Stuck Up a Tree, and Dani Does Something Brave
Owl talked to the three about his family history for so long it gave us extra time to find the next page of the book and put it in. On the next page, the blustery day turned into a rainy day. It rained and it rained and it rained. Pooh so told himself that never in all of his life had he seen so much rain in the Hundred Acre Woods. But fortunately, Owl's House was high on the oak tree, so for now, the three were safe from the rain.
("Didn't Owl's house get destroyed?" you asked.
"Not in this story," I said.)
But it was less safe for the other people in the Hundred Acre Wood, but most of all Tigger, who had just appeared with the new page. You see, it is very hard for even a tigger to have a proper bounce in the water, so Tigger climbed up and up the old pine tree.
"Climbing is what tiggers do best," said Tigger. "'Cept Tiggers don't climb, they bounce!"
So Tigger bounced up and up the old tree, until he nearly bounced out of the book. And the rain rose with him, until there was no where else for Tigger to go.
("I thought tigers liked water," you said.
"Oh?" I asked. "Well, it's a good thing Tigger is a tigger then.")
The other denizens of the Hundred Acre Woods soon began to arrive at Owl's House, and they each told a tale about how Tigger was stuck. So Dani and Pooh decided to mount an expedition to save him. Dani managed to make a raft out of Owl's dining room chairs, and Pooh, who was a bear of very little brain, figured out that he could float alongside her inside of the honey pot he had gotten from Owl, so that way he could have a snack along the way.
"All boats have a funny name," said Pooh. "So I was thinking I could call my boat the Floating Bear."
"Whatever floats your boat, Pooh Bear," said Dani.
When the arrived at the old pine tree, they did in fact see Tigger at the very top, screaming for dear life. It took Dani a minute to steer their ships to a stop, and it took Pooh a minute to realize that it wasn't a Jagular at the top of the tree.
"Can we climb to the top of that tree?" said Dani.
"We might," said Pooh. "But I wouldn't be able to carry him down with me. What about you?"
"Same," said Dani.
"Well, perhaps if we had some other way to get down."
"But I can't fly," said Dani.
"You've been saying that," said Pooh. "But are your really sure you can't fly?"
"I've tried," said Dani.
"Well, perhaps you could try again?" said Pooh. "I may be a bear of very little brain, but it seems to me that you only lose when you stop trying."
"Let's climb," said Dani, eager to change the subject.
And so Winnie the Pooh and Dani climbed the Hunny Tree.
They climbed,
and they climbed,
and they climbed,
But this time Pooh did not quite feel like singing his Rumbly in His Tumbly song.
Then Dani climbed a little further…and a little further…and at that point she was getting a little tired, and she could just reach out for Tigger if she stood on that branch there.
Crack!
"Ah shit," said Dani as she began to fall.
"You see, I hadn't—" She said, as she bounced on the branch below that.
"See, what I meant to do—" She said, as she bounced on the branch below that.
"And it all comes, I suppose," She said, as she tried to catch herself on another branch. "From not believing in myself!"
Dani caught herself, hanging off of a branch with one hand and still holding Tigger in the other.
"But I thought I believed in myself," said Dani. "I mean, I wasn't doubting myself or anything."
"I believe in you, Dani," said Pooh, calling down from one of the higher branches.
"Thank you, Pooh," said Dani.
But perhaps he had a point, Dani realized as the branch began to crack from their weight. She had not come all this way because she believed in just herself. She would not be here if it weren't for Merlin teaching her how to use magic…
and Leon teaching her how to use her Keyblade…
and Sora, Donald, and Goofy bringing her on this adventure where she got to be the hero she always wanted to be…
and Penny's sharp mind always making sure Dani's stupid plans worked…
and Katie always setting those stupid plans in motion…
and Hanna, always at her side no matter what happened…
Dani said goodbye to the last branch as it began to give way under her and decided to believe in them instead.
She did not land in the water below, or the gorse-bush below that, because instead the faith, trust, and pixie-dust finally started to work and she began to fly.
"Tigger, I did it!" Dani said. "I can fly!"
"Great!" said Tigger. "Can we fly down now?"
Realm of Darkness
Darkness.
Darkness as far as the eye couldn't see. No thing to interact with. No path he could travel. No person he could talk to.
At first, Riku thought he was in some kind of afterlife. He then decided that if he were, he wasn't there for a good reason.
He wanted to apologize. Take everything back. Start all over. Even if he could, there was no way to escape this abyss. For the first time in a long time, Riku was actually alone.
And just as he realized it, he wasn't alone anymore.
"Riku!"
Charlie? Save for light signs of exhaustion, he looked the same as the last time Riku had seen him…whole. Still, he wanted to make sure…
"Hey! Cut that out!" Charlie swatted his hand away from his face.
"Why are you here?" Riku asked. "You were never a real Heartless, you should've been fine!"
"I wanted to find you." Charlie said.
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend, and you're hurting right now, and I don't think you should be left alone."
"I don't have a Heart anymore! Or a body, for that matter! There's no way I'm going to just escape with you!"
The revelation hit Riku. He struggled to maintain composure.
"You're better off just forgetting about me." He finished.
Charlie was silent for a minute. Riku thought he had given up until he felt the weight of Charlie's hand on his shoulder.
"I'm not going to leave my friend behind." He said. His eyes sparked with light and hope and determination.
Riku? Can you hear me?
"That is the silliest disembodied voice I've ever heard." Charlie said.
"Who are you?" Riku asked instead. "Where are you?"
You were right when you said you lost your body. But you recovered your Heart. Because of that, it became trapped on this side of the Darkness.
But this isn't quite as bad as it sounds! Two Hearts were always needed to close the Door, on both sides.
Two Hearts, and Two Keyblades.
Maybe you were destined to come here, just like me.
Chapter XIII: In Which a Hero Party is Held, and Dani Says Goodbye to the Hundred Acre Woods (but not for long)
Once the next page was added and the rainy day ended, it was decided that a Hero Party would be held for Dani. Pooh was the one that decided to hold it, but in the end Dani ended up having to do most of the work herself.
She was the one who went to Rabbit's garden to collect the food for the feast…
and then to Kanga's kitchen to make the food for the feast…
and then to Piglet's house to blow up the balloons…
and then she and Tigger and Roo helped hang up the streamers…
And Eeyore helped in his own way but Dani wasn't quite sure how.
But most important, or at least the most important thing in Pooh's mind, was that she went to Owl's house and got an extra pot of honey for Pooh, and made her mother's famous honey scones for everyone else.
And all of those many adventures would make great stories in their own right. But now it is time for us to say goodbye.
"Say goodbye?" said Pooh. "Oh, no, please, can't we just go back to page one and do it all over again?"
Sorry, Pooh, but all stories have an ending.
"Oh, bother," said Pooh.
"Don't worry, Pooh," said Dani. "I'll be back. And I'll even bring my other friends next time! I'm sure Hanna and Charlie would love to meet you, too."
"When you do that," said Pooh. "Could you bring someone else along?"
"Sure. Who is it?"
"His name is Sora."
"Oh, I know Sora!" said Dani. "I'm sure he would love to come!"
"I hope so," said Pooh. "Because he used to visit, too. But one day, I noticed that I couldn't find him here."
Pooh tapped his paw to his Heart.
"That's…weird," said Dani. "Because I know Sora would never forget you. And I'm sure as soon as I mention it to him, he'll be hopping to visit you again."
"Thank you, Dani," said Pooh. "You know, you remind me of someone else who used to visit as well."
"Who is that?"
"Her name is Mary."
"Mary?"
"That's what I said."
"But…"
("Is that me?" you asked)
"That is you," I said.
You didn't say anything, but your eyes went wider and wider and your checks grew pinker and pinker.)
Traverse Town
Dani found herself back in the Magician's Study, tossed unceremoniously on the floor. It took her a minute to get her bearings and pull herself back to her feet.
"Welcome back!"
Merlin had managed to mostly pull his study back together, and was currently enjoying a cup of tea with the furniture Dani had destroyed earlier. He gestured for Dani to join him, which she did awkwardly.
"Did you find what you were looking for in that world?" Merlin asked.
"I did!" Dani said. "But…how did you know it was a world? I remember reading that book when I was a kid."
"Oh, you'd be surprised on what can become a world." Merlin said. "Memories, Dreams, Stories…all you have to do is believe in the world, and put your whole Heart into it, and it can be as real as you or me!"
"Okay, but…" Dani said. "Wasn't the kid in the book named Christopher Robin?"
"What kid?" Merlin said, taking a sip of his tea.
Huh. Well, Dani supposed that kind of answered her question.
She tried to finish her tea as fast as possible, being careful not to burn her own tongue. When she got up, she would have to finish this battle.
And when she was done, in that enchanted place at the top of the Forest, a little bear would be waiting for her.
DANI obtained SWEET DREAMS
A well-balanced keyblade that slightly increases strength and magic, as well as increases the chance of item drops.
SORA obtained OATHKEEPER
A keyblade imbued with light magic. Enhances magic and summon power, as well as increases the length Drive and Form Chance duration. Also has a good chance of landing critical blows.
SORA obtained OBLIVION
A Keyblade imbued with dark power. Has great strength, and allows for magic, Drive, and Form gauges to recharge quickly. Also has a good chance of landing critical blows.
Author's Note: Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner are probably some of my favorite books. They're definitely full of my favorite characters of all time. I really wanted to emphasize this world's role as a book and tried to replicate the writing style of the book as much as possible. The events of this world are more based on the ride (at least, the Disneyland version of the ride) than any of the Kingdom Hearts events or movie adaptations, but with some changes. For one, Owl doesn't lose his house!
So yeah. Worldlines. If you haven't read the Sleeping Worlds Theory yet, here's the gist: the actual events of Kingdom Hearts 3 that we play through are actually an alternate timeline created in a Dream when Sora and the gang have to go back in time to prevent their loss at the Keyblade Graveyard. There's a lot of strange things that happen all throughout Kingdom Hearts 3, like Goofy knowing what Unversed are but not knowing when he learned that, to Eraqus cheating at the chess game, to Goofy's insistence that "May your Heart be your guiding Key" was a thing Yen Sid always said, to the entire End of the World sequence and how any of that actually worked. Even the presence of Lumpy the Heffalump in the 100 Acre Woods, despite nobody remembering him, is a smoking gun (Heffalumps, as you might recall, only appeared in Pooh's dreams in the original books and films). There's also the connection between χ and Unchained χ is that the Dandelions traveled to a different worldline to survive the Keyblade War. It's a little more complicated than just "time travel" in that the timeline is itself a whole other world, where things can change. Like, maybe, the addition of four teenage girls who had no place in the story prior.
I honestly do believe this is what Normua intended for KH3, but his vague sequel-hook bait-and-switch style of storytelling in KH3 made it…muddied, to say the least. Whether it's true or not, it at least gives KH3 a more satisfying story. You can read the whole theory here: document/d/11d1TKd4ZKZd41pJKQ77bKz4YxJx8_Mojz2KMpNvTrvU/edit
Originally when I wrote this chapter, it was mostly about Mary. Her role will be revealed in time.