Author's Note: Not gonna say much, so let's just cut to the chase...or the fighting the bad guys.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or Anastasia.
CH29: A Crazy Adventure.
The group of nineteen ventured through to a colder cart of the train, which, given that while Dimitri and Vlad, who wasn't exactly keen on being here as he instantly disliked the cold, were having a private conversation, it didn't take the others long to realise that there were various baggages, and crates, with a manual brake at the other end of the small room.
"What's with the bags and crates?" Myde asked, skeptically.
"A baggage cart?" Sora, Lea, Isa, Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, Noctis, Donald and Anya all inquired skeptically at Dimitri and Vlad who both turned and smiled sheepishly at them and the rest of the group.
"There wouldn't be anything wrong with our papers, now would there, maestro?" Anya asked with a skeptical smirk.
"Of course not, your grace. It's just that I hate to see you forced to mingle with all those commoners." Dimitri lied, charmingly.
Noctis, still skeptical and still a bit spooked on the mysterious demon spirit thing, turned to Jack and asked softly, "Is he making that up especially since we're in this freezing cart?"
"How am I supposed to know? This is my first train ride." Jack shrugged cluelessly.
"Wait a minute. We're common-AGH!" Myde didn't have the chance to finish what he wanted to say to Dimitri as all of the sudden there was a huge explosion sound that caused almost everyone to fall onto the floor and mostly on top of each other as, unknowingly to everyone, Rasputin's evil Spirits had caused the explosion that had separated the locomotive and the baggage car from the dining car which Vlad was about to enter, but now he was stuck standing at the edge of the destroyed door way.
"What was that!?" Mickey cried out, alarmed, while scrambled on the floor with his friends.
"I don't know!" Vlad replied, before grumbling, "But there goes the dining cart!"
While Pooka, who sensed that something was wrong, was barking at the door which connected to the coal tender and the locomotive, everyone else were trying to get off each other...a bit painfully.
"Get off me!" Anya grunted.
"Get off my leg!" Lea yelled.
"I'm trying!" Dimitri argued.
"Ow! That's my arm!" Noctis groaned.
Goofy tried to get up, but ended up accidently shoving Donald's head to the floor, causing the latter to groan, "Ouch!" which the former then realised and freed him.
"Oops! Sorry, Donald." Goofy sheepishly responded, cringing.
"We're still attached to the train. Something's wrong!" Aqua stated after she and the others finally got off each other as she, Riku, Terra, Sora, Mickey and Kairi sensed darkness...lurking around them.
Vlad, seeing that Pooka was trying to see something, peeked through the front window and peers at the engine and sees sparks raining down from outside, and instantly he knew that Aqua was right. "Uh, Dimitri?"
"What?" Dimitri, rubbing his sore leg, asked.
"I think Aqua's right! Someone has flambéed our engine!" The older man replied, worriedly.
When Sora and everyone else move forward and saw that the engine is blowing smoke and fire, they knew that Vlad was right. On top of that, the engine itself was bright red, and it looked like it was starting to melt and increasing in speed.
"I think you might wanna say that the train is being barbequed!" Roxas cried out.
"Not good." Jack muttered, worriedly.
Dimitri, having a bad feeling about this, told the others, "Wait here! I'll check it out."
"I'll go! I'm faster!" Noctis quickly said, and before anyone could stop him despite Aqua's protests, the young Prince summoned his weapon before climbing onto the coal tender and tossed his sword across to the engine which instantly warped him inside the engine room. To his horror and confusion, it was empty and the entire room was overheated, with sparks of fire flying all over the place.
"Damn!" Noctis hissed, before hurrying warping back to the others.
With Sora and the others...
"Noctis!" Aqua cried out, but was too late as Noct had already wrapped to the locomotive.
"How did he do that!?" Dimitri asked, shocked and confused.
"Haven't known him that long, mate." Jack shook his head, only to be startled when suddenly familiar monsters appeared behind the group, with Anya, Dimitri and Vlad shocked to see them.
"Oh, come on! Not again!" Sora groaned as he and the rest of the worldly travellers summoned their weapons, before he told the trio behind them, "Stay back! We'll handle these guys!"
The fight was quickly in place as Sora tossed his Keyblade at the Russian-Soldier like Heartless, destorying them instantly before being shot by a fire-shot in the shoulder which caused him to then dodge-roll out of the way when another Heartless attempted to attack him again and then spun his Keyblade as he preformed his Motion-Flow despite not having enough room to do so, slashing and hacking at the Heartless who was then destroyed. He then moved on to another.
Riku and Terra heavily clashed at the Heartless while keeping them away from, what they and everyone else soon realised to their horror and worry, crates full of dynamite, and when some of the Heartless that fired fire-shots dangerously too close to them, Myde quickly extinguished them with his water Abilities while also eliminating the Heartless at the same time, and finished off three other Heartless with his sitar.
Xion, not wanting to run the risk of using Fire or Thunder Spells, instead used Blizzaraga as did Skuld, Donald and Aqua, the four of them using as much as they can against the Shadow Heartless before the former Replica upper-sliced three in a single hit. Kairi did the similiar thing while jumping out of the way before she too was hit, and then spun around to attack and oblierate the Heartless that attempted to attack her.
Jack, Goofy and Ven just whacked and smacked at the Heartless they were fighting while also avoiding them at the same time as much as possible, with the former kicking one in the stomach(if the Heartless had any) which allowed Goofy to destroy it with his shield, while Ven blasted Blizzaraga which froze the Heartless into solid ice, allowing him to smash the three Heartless frozen into pieces before they disappeared.
Lea, restraining himself in using his fire abilities, instead used his Chakrams to slash and collide against the Heartless before leaping upward and smashed a Heartless that followed him across the cart, which it flew towards Isa who destroyed it instantly with his Keyblade he decided to use instead of his Claymore. The two then stood back to back before charing at more Heartless in effortless team work, smacking away the Heartless as they went.
Mickey triple-air-somersaulted while attacking the Heartless that came near him before he shot out Orbs of Light while merging them with his own Blizzaraga Spell to turn them into magical Freezing Orbs that hit the Heartless and froze them before they were engulfed by the power of Light and disappeared.
The King then slashed and whacked at the Heartless before being joined by Roxas who, like Sora, tossed his Keyblade at several Heartless before thrusting and slashing at the enemies. The two wielders then joined hands and spun around and around while holding out their Keyblades that destroyed the Heartless that tried and failed to get near them.
While the fight was on, Anya peeked out through the door and cried out worriedly when she noticed the increasing speed of the train, "We're going way too fast!" only to cry out when a Heartless nearly hit her, but was surprised when Dimitri, picking up a wooden pole, quickly smacked the Heartless away and towards Sora who saw what happened and destroyed it with his Keyblade.
Vlad was about to get attacked when all of the sudden, Noct warpped back in and the blade instantly destroyed the Heartless in a single perch through it's head. The younger man then joined in the fight as he slashed and smacked at the Heartless coming towards him and Vlad, half-warpping in the cart as quickly as he could. Anya, feeling useless, picked up the second wooden pole and when a Heartless came at her, she whacked it as hard as she could at it like a club, and repeated the progress five more times while running out of the way to avoid in getting hit.
Once all the Heartless were defeated, no one had time to relax, as Noctis quickly told them, "No one's driving this train! We gotta get outta here fast!"
"There's no one driving this thing!?" Roxas exclaimed.
"AHH! Runaway train!" Myde panicked hysterically, while Donald and Goofy screamed hystericallly and clinged onto each other, panicking.
"Guess we have to jump!" Dimitri quickly said, as he, Terra and Isa opened the side door.
"Did you say jump!?" Anya asked, incrediously. To her and everyone else's dismay, when the three men opened the door, they were crossing a high bridge which below them were rocks and if that wouldn't kill them, the freezing water would. "After you!" She offered sarcastically to Dimitri.
"We gotta uncouple the cart!" Mickey called out seriously.
Little did they know, that Rasputin's Spirits heard this as they were hiding underneath the train and instantly moved to between the carts before fusing the locks by melting them and cooling them off to prevent the carts from seperating before they disappeared. Dimiti, not having seen the cause of this, leaped onto the the melted locks while Vlad handed him a hammer before the former began bashing away to try and break it off.
"We'll need something other than a hammer!" Sora stated.
Jack, quickly remembering the dynamite and seeing how that can easily be effective, had an idea and quickly shoved Lea and Isa out of the way, "Move!" and grabbed hold of one, much to their and everyone else's worry until they realised what he had in mind.
Dimitri in the meantime failed to break the locks as he only suceeded in breaking the hammer which snapped in half, much to his frustration. "Come on! There's gotta be something in there better than this!"
His wish came true as Jack hurried over and handed the younger man the now lit dynamite, much to Dimitri's horror but also relief.
"...That'll work!" He muttered, wide-eyed before setting it in a small hole that was perfect fit so that the dynamite wouldn't fall off. Dimitri and everyone else then quickly hurried behind none-dynamite crates and baggages, crouching down to brace themselves for the explosion.
"Where'd you get this idea from?" Dimitri asked the pirate, dumbfounded.
"From a man who used to run a flower-shop." Jack muttered, referring to Vinny from the world of Atlantis.
One second later, the dynamite on the coupling between the engine's tender and baggage explodes, which also damaged a good section of the cart, which Donald, Kairi, Skuld, and Aqua raced to use blizzard and water magic to extinguish stray flames in a few places.
Unaware to them, the evil Spirits, seeing this, then flew towards the coming Bridge in the very short distance from a very high gap between two ledges.
"The Brakes are out!" Vlad cried out as he tried to turn the brakes, but they were stuck. Lea and Sora moved in to help turn.
"Turn harder!" Sora grunted.
SNAP!
The trio ended up accidently pulling the brake wheel broken.
"Aw, crud." Lea groaned, as the baggage cart, despite it being seperated from the train, was still going really fast.
"Don't worry." Dimitri told them to try and lighten the mood. "We've got plenty of track. We'll just coast to a stop."
All of the sudden, there was another huge tremor that caused everyone to fall down, as unaware to them, the Spirits had formed into a giant one to smash and destroy the bridge before they scattered and vanished as they and Rasputin had now believed that there was no way anyone could escape this death sentence. When Sora and everyone else stood up to see what happened, their eyes widened in horror as they all gasped to see that the bridge coming towards them had been 'blown' up into pieces.
"Uh, oh." Mickey muttered, fearfully.
"You were saying?" Anya muttered to Dimitri.
"This is not our day." Sora groaned in dismay.
Myde whimpered, "We're all gonna die."
Not responding to that, Dimitri then noticed chains in the cargo and grabbed hold of them, calling out to Vlad, "I got an idea Vlad, give me a hand with this." hurrying over to the other side of the cart.
But due to the speed, Vlad yelled out in alarm as he fell backwards into a box and became stuck. Kairi and Skuld hurried to help him while, to everyone else's dismay, more Heartless appeared, forcing most of the worldly travellers to fight them for round 2.
With only Anya left, she hurried to help Dimitri as she quickly realised what his idea was. He edges his way out of the car as the ground whizzes by beneath him while he lowers himself underneath the baggage cart.
"Hand me the chain!" Dimitri called up, reaching out for it, expecting Vlad, only to see Anya who was handing it out to him. "Not you!"
"Everyone's busy at the moment." Anya informed in annoyance.
Despite the annoyance, Dimitri accepted the chains and hooks it onto the undercarriage, but due to the speed, twisted steel from the front of the train flies back at him like shrapnel. With Anya's help he pulls himself up just as the shrapnel whips by, shattering a tree. They land in near embrace, and catch their breath. Their eyes meet, stirring some distant feeling. They then snapped out of it while glancing back to the shattered tree receding it the distance.
"And to think that could've been you." Anya stated as she pulled Dimitri back onto the floor where he stood up.
"If we live through this, remind me to thank you." He replied.
As both the train and the baggage cart were almost at the collision course with the broken bridge, while Sora and the others defeated the last of the Heartless and Vlad recovered, Dimitri and Anya pushed off the rest of the chain which got caught on the tracks by the hook, pulling baggage car around and began to slide on it's side, but not before the worldly travellers defeated the Heartless again. Quickly everyone got to the other side, preparing to jump.
"This is our stop!" Mickey declared.
Instantly the group all jumped off the baggage cart and into the freshly fallen snow which softened their landing while the cart itself, after the Train, plunged off the broken bridge, crash, and ignite into a ball of fire with an enormous explosion when they hit the bottom.
Once recovering, Kairi breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "That was too close."
"I'll say. I'm never getting on a train again for the rest of my life." Riku panted.
"Me neither." Sora agreed, dusting the snow off his shoulders and clothes.
Dimitri, twice as annoyed at the near death experience, hissed, "I HATE trains! Remind me to never get on the train again."
"Remind me to never ride a vehicle on wheels again." Jack groaned, more than a little shaken.
"Ended up in a car crash too?" Noctis asked, unable to help but tease a little.
The pirate paused, before muttering in exasperation, "You've no idea."
Through the Spirital Orb Rasputin created so that he, Bartok and Arydn can observe this, to his dismay the group had survived the murder attempt and when the orb fades away the moment after Jack told Noctis, 'You've no idea', the evil Sorcerer began to have a temper tantrum and hissy fit while grabbing his throat and thinning it while also grabbing his beard hard, shaking about like a crazy person, babbling and screaming about.
"Uh...wow." Bartok stated as he and Ardyn watched the preformance.
"May I suggest you calm down before you lose control and take it easy?" Arydn stated, even though he was a little annoyed that the heroes, including Prince Noctis and Sora, had managed to survive, he was admittedly impressed with the accomplishments, while Rasputin hit his head on the rock table.
Bartok approached the sorcerer while saying in agreement, "Mr. Ardyn's right, sir. You know, you really should watch your blood pressure. My nephew, Izzy, just kneeled over one day, mid-mango."
"How is it that you know?" Arydn asked, curiously.
Rasputin's thumb came off when the man hit his hand on the rock, causing Bartok to pick it up and screw it back on while continuing, "Stress, it's a killer, and he's a fruit bat. No meat. No blood, even."
"How could they let her escape!?" Rasputin growled, "You were right, Arydn. That Sora and his companions are more trouble than they are worth!"
"It is a pity, isn't it?" Arydn replied.
Bartok shrugged in agreement as he approached the reliquary, "Eh, you guys are right. It's really upsetting. Huh, I guess this reliquary's broken." and to Rasputin's horror, the bat heaved it and tossed it into the air.
"YOU IDIOT!" Rasputin shrieked as he managed to catch it by stretching out his hand with the muscles and vains acting as a sling-rope. The reliquary landed in his grasp and the hand retreated back to the rest of his arm while he growled.
"You shouldn't have tossed it." Arydn told Bartok in a sing-song voice.
"Why not?" Bartok asked, shrugging, only for Rasputin to stand up and grabbed him in a tightening grasp.
"I sold my soul for this. My life, my very existance depends on it. And you," He chuckled, before growling angrily at the bat, "Almost destroyed it!" shoving Bartok's face into the glass of the reliquary.
"I get it, I get it!" Bartok quickly replied. "You break it, you bought it!"
"See that you remember, you miserable rodent!" Rasputin replied before tossing Bartok aside and happily made sure the reliquary was alright.
After landing on the floor with a thud, Bartok then mumbled to himself sarcastically, "Oh, sure. Blame the bat. What the heck? We're easy targets."
"What are you mumbling about?" Rasputin grumbled, hearing parts of what the bat was saying, as did Ardyn who rolled his eyes.
Quickly standing up, Bartok lied, "Anastasia, sir! Just wishing I could do the job for you, sir. I'd give her a HA! And a HI-YA! And then a OUU-WA! And I'd kick her, sir." while demostrating karate and kung fu moves.
"I'd personally send out the Heartless to do the job, a most powerful one that none of them can handle." Arydn smirked.
Rasputin on the other hand, had another idea as he said very evilly, "Oooooh! I have something else in mind. Something more enticing. Something...really...cruel."
Since the train was out, the group had to walk down the slope and made their way towards their destination on foot. On the bright side, at least it was getting warmer as they were getting out of the colder parts of Romanov Empire.
"So we're walking to Paris." Skuld surmised.
"No, we'll take a boat in Germany." Dimitri replied.
"Oh, so we're walking to Germany." Ven responded.
"Nope. We're taking a bus."
Anya sighed in relief, "A bus...!"
"Great...relaxation and a seat to sleep on." Noctis said, dreamingly.
"Yeah. I say we deserve it." Sora nodded in agreement.
Riku rolled his eyes, saying, "I can't believe you two want to think of nothing but a nap."
"Hey!" Sora pouted.
"Great. Another Gladio." Noctis rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Great. Another Sora." Kairi mimicked while giggling, causing almost everyone else to laugh, knowing that she was right. Sora and Noctis both pouted with embarrassed blushes.
The group came to a stop to rest at the small wooden bridge over a small river, with a roof over the bridge. Myde had collasped on his back, groaning in relief for a much needed break. Vlad on the other hand, had made a flower crown and placed it around his head and began dancing.
"Sophie, my dear. Vlady's on his way!" Vlad said loudly, looking like he was in La-La land.
"Who's Sophie?" Goofy asked, confused.
"Who's Sophie? She's a tender little morsel." Vlad said romantically, despite Dimirti's whispers of warning. "A cup of hot chocolate after a long walk in the snow."
"Vlad. Ixnay on the Ophiesay." Dimitri mouthed, but was ignored.
"Somebody's in love." Myde commented.
"Yeah, I'll say." Noctis smirked, only to be startled when Vlad took hold of him and began to waltz-dance like at a royal ball. "H-Hey!"
Donald began laughing at the sight of Noctis being danced around like a girl.
"She's a decadent pastry filled with whipped cream and laughter." Vlad continued while dipping Noctis low, much to the latter's embarrassment.
"Is this a woman, or a creme puff?" Jack asked, not getting it at all. Neither did Anya or the rest of the worldly travellers.
"No idea." Lea shrugged.
As Noctis let out a yelp after Vlad let him go and the younger man lost his balance before accidently crashing into Sora, Lea, Terra and Dimitri, all five of them crashing onto the ground while Vlad answered, "She is the Empress' ravishing first cousin."
"Wait, what?" Isa asked, blinking in confusion.
"But, I thought we were gonna see the Empress herself." Mickey was also confused, shrugging, "Why are we seeing her cousin?"
Suddenly the worldly travellers and Anya realised something and all slowly turned to Dimitri who tried to walk away un-noticed while humming innocently until he noticed their stern and annoyed glares.
"Dimitri..." Aqua began, sternly.
"Well," Dimiti finally admitted defeat and explained sheepishly, "No one gets near the Dowager Empress without convincing Sophie first."
"And you couldn't have told us before?" Sora asked in annoyance.
"Thanks a lot." Donald said dryly.
"Well, I...uh..." Dimitri stuttered a little.
Anya, very annoyed, shook her head and snapped, "Oh, no. Not me. No, no! Nobody ever told me I had to PROVE I was the Grand Duchess!"
"Look, I-"
"Show up? Yes. Look nice? Fine. But lie?" Anya asked, not liking the idea of having to lie to anyone.
"You don't know it's a lie. What if it's true?" Dimitri pointed out.
"Hate to say it, but he does have a good point." Terra reluctantedly agreed, "Besides, none of us really know yet if you are the Grand Duchess or not. For all we know, what you would say could be the truth."
"Easy for you to say!" Anya pointed out in return while gesturing at her clothes, "I mean, look at me! I'm not exactly Grand Duchess material here!" before storming off to the bridge.
"Aww..." Donald grumbled, feeling sorry for Anya. So did the rest of the worldly travellers and Vlad.
"It's not easy trying to figure out your past." Ven sighed, placing his hands behind his head. He knew what Anya was going through.
"Or try and recover your memories." Skuld nodded in agreement.
Sora nodded as well, saying, "It's even harder when you lost them in the first place and you have no idea what's really going on." and most of the worldly travellers argued with that.
Xion, seeing how Anya was a little depressed, approached her after Vlad went up to her and stood by her right, while the former Replica stood by her left, gazing at the reflection of the small river below them.
"Tell me, child. What do you see?" Vlad asked gently.
Anya gazed at her reflection disappointingly, before answering, "I see a skinny little nobody, with no past, and no future."
"That's not true." Xion told her, saying, "You do have a past and more importantly, you have a heart. Just because you don't remember doesn't mean your memories are gone forever. They're just sleeping in your heart, out of your reach for now. The past is important to remember, but you also have to focus on your future too, and that future is in Paris."
The black-haired girl paused for a second before adding, "That necklace you were given is proof that you have a family. Me and Roxas, well...none of us were given anything except names when we were born and the only memories we have are our times with Lea, and everyone else...especially knowing Sora all too well." the last part, she was refering to that of being Sora's replica based on his memories of Kairi.
"So how did you move on?" Anya asked.
"By being with those we care about so much. Family isn't just about relatives, it's also seeing your friends as family too." Xion replied.
"She's right." Vlad nodded in agreement, "And what I see is an engaging and fiery young woman, who, on occasion, has shown a regal command equal to any royal in the world. And I have known my share of royalty."
He then looked back and forth once before adding to the two young woman, "You see, I was a member of the Imperial Court."
This did seem to make Anya feel a bit better. They were right. Soon, the rest of the worldly travellers joined up with them without getting crowded.
"Feeling better?" Noctis asked to Anya as he stood next to Xion. The young woman nodded, and he continued, "Everyone has their own problems with their lives, even minor ones."
"Don't worry too much about happened, Anya." Mickey added comfortingly. "Why, I'm searchin' for someone who taught me a lot for a long time and I'm worried sick about 'im. But I'm sure I can find him with the help of my friends. I just know you'll find your family and get your memories back, too."
"Yeah, Anya. We've all been there." Aqua added warmly. "It took Terra, Ven and I twelve years to get back together."
Jack wanted to join him and make comments about the Black Pearl, but restrained himself because he knew that not only it would break the World Order, but also that his said ship was now gone forever and he was still on exile from his own world. So instead, he nodded in agreement.
"Guess we all had our own problems." Anya stated.
"Yup. Took me, Donald and Goofy a year to find Riku, Kairi and Mickey." Sora nodded in agreement. "A lotta people would want to go out finding someone or something and it takes them years, but they eventually found it. So don't give up just yet. We've got your back."
That made Anya feel even more better...it's too bad Dimitri had to go and ruin it as he joined up and stood with the group, asking the eighteen year old woman, "So, are you ready to become the Grand Duchess Anastasia?"
Vlad and most of the worldly travellers gave Dimitri looks while Anya, Aqua, Kairi and Skuld rolled their eyes and walked off, and Jack, Riku, Isa shook their heads.
"Nice going, Einstein." Myde commented dryly.
"What?" Dimitri asked, shrugging cluelessly.
"There's nothing left for you back there, my dear." Vlad stated to Anya, gesturing at the path they all came from. "Everything, as Xion said, is in Paris."
She thought about it, and given that the only thing waiting for her where she came from was the Fish Factory, nothing else. Plus, Anya came this far and even if she may not be the Grand Duchess, at least she had the lessons in how to be a proper lady and she would be in Paris to continue her search.
Nodding, Anya turned around with a beaming smile and told both Dimitri and Vlad, "Gentlemen, start your teaching."
"I remember it well." Vlad replied.
"And we'll help along the way." Sora added, with his companions nodding in agreement.
Along the way to the Bus Stop to Germany, Anya was being taught of etiquette and how to act like the Grand Duchess as well as memorizing the names of the Royalty which, while she had a bit of difficulty, she suddenly remembered one of them having a yellow cat, much to everyone else's surprise.
Other than Heartless appearing which was nothing Sora and the worldly travellers couldn't handle, they had other rides along the way, from truck, to horse-back...which while most of them had a knack to it, Dimitri, Sora, Myde, Goofy, Roxas, Lea, Isa, Noctis and Donald, when they tried to get their horses to leap over a log like everyone else did, instead ended up being catapaulted off when their horses skid to a stop, causing them to fall face-first into a small puddle of mud.
Eventually, the bus they waited for finally took the group to Germany where they then boarded the boat which would take most of the day to Paris as they would be arriving at their destination the next morning. They all settled into their cabins before reaching the deck to relax. Dimitri had given Anya a dress earlier to try on to give her an appearence of a well-dressed young lady.
Jack was standing by the railing as the sun began to set, feeling at real peace for the first time since being forced on exile. Unlike the military ship at Atlantis, this boat was much smaller, though still not the same as the Black Pearl or other ships he rode on growing up, but it was better than nothing. He truly missed the feeling of the waves beneath the vessel. He could finally feel his sea-legs starting to return. A motion which he wished to feel again.
"As soon as the boat lands, it's only one carriage away to meet Sophie and the Empress, right?" Sora asked, leaning back against railing at the other side of the deck while careful not to fall off.
"Yeah, but problem is how to handle this without causing hostile." Noctis nodded. He was admittedly worried how the Empress would take in meeting them. Something told him that it was going to be a lot harder than articipated. If ten years had keeped her away from her granddaughter, then he had a feeling that, with no other family, the queen wouldn't be quite so happy.
"You worried about somethin'?" Lea asked, noticing Noctis' worried look.
The young Prince shrugged, "It's just...losing family or your friends or even someone you love, or losing all of them can will make a person a complete wreck. Especially after a long time. I mean, who's to say that Empress might not want to even consider the fact that her granddaughter is still alive and wouldn't even want to even think about it?"
The rest of the worldy travellers glanced at one another with sudden realizations and concern. Noctis did have a good point. What if the Empress didn't even want to see Anya? If the ruler had become strict and embittered after ten years, she might not even want to help and that would leave Anya depressed and devastated. None of them even considered that.
"...Well, only way to find out is to see tomorrow. There's no sense in worrying about it now, right?" Roxas shrugged, though he couldn't completely hide the tone of uncertainty.
None of them had the chance to continue the conversation as they heard Anya clear her throat. When they and everyon else turned to see, their eyes widened as she was wearing the dress Dimitri gave her. It was a simple blue dress with short sleeves and a white collar. She also let her hair loose and had tied a blue matching ribbon in it. Needless to say that it suited her.
Lea lets out an impressed whistle and smirked, "That dress suits you, Anya."
"You look beautiful!" Kairi said beamingly. Aqua, and Xion both nodded in agreement.
"I agree." Skuld added.
"Wonderful! Marvellous!" Vlad said in agreement as he and everyone else, including Jack who also had to admit that Anya looked simply beautiful in a simple dress, approached the bashful but smiling Anya who was proud at her own accomplishments of having fashioned herself rather nicely. "And now you are dressed for a ball. And you will learn to dance for one as well."
Vlad then pulled a reluctanted Dimitri over to teach Anya how to dance and after a few small mistakes, Anya began to dance perfectly along with Dimitri, while everyone else watched on. Though seeing this and beginning to realise that love could interfere since Dimitri and Anya were slowly becoming close, Vlad began to regret in letting them dance and get worried.
"For a guy who can't dance, he's doing pretty well." Riku commented at Dimitri who had said that he wasn't really good at it.
"Anya's doing pretty well too." Skuld nodded. "I think she will be fine."
"The next thing she will be learning is the tango." Jack said, earning skeptical looks from his companions, causing the pirate to shrug cluelessly, "What? I have romanced a woman or two."
"Before you dumped them, you mean?" Isa deadpanned.
"All right, so I am not one for romance, but I at least have a bit of a go." Jack admitted, before adding, "As a general rule, it's not very nice to harm women...even if most of them tend to harm men."
While most of them just continued to look at the pirate skeptically, Sora and Kairi, unknowingly to each other, continued to watch Anya and Dimitri dance, and at the same time in the two teenagers' minds, they pictured themselves dacing with one another happily, and in Sora's case, the same way he pictured himself dancing with a younger Kairi at Halloween Town, only this time, he saw Kairi in her true age.
"Lovely..." Sora and Kairi both whispered in unison, only to quickly snap out of it when they heard each other say that and shared a glance of sudden shock, confusion and embarrassment, before they both turned away slightly as their faces turned pink and red and hoped that none of their friends had heard or seen them do this.
'That was...ugh, man! I'm getting butterflies here!' Sora thought to himself. Sure he liked Kairi...he really did. He had no idea what was wrong with him lately, but...ugh, everything about Kairi just made him feel very warm and...and almost as light as a feather.
"I'm getting nauseous here." Vanitas appeared briefly as he groaned in disgust, before disappearing quickly before Sora could say anything in his head.
Sora mentally sighed as the memories of fighting Ven's former darkness in that nightmare at Atlantis made him really worried, reinforcing the terrified thought of Vanitas getting stronger. If that happened and Sora lost control...he had no idea what to do. Did he make some kind of mistake when he and Riku returned Ven's heart into it's original body that caused Vanitas to extract himself from Ven into Sora's heart and mind?
He desperately wished he could talk to Yen Sid. The Sorcerer would know what to do in this situation. The hard reality was that he was in Aced's clutches and Sora was stuck handling this on his own. As much as he desperately wanted to tell his friends, he didn't want to worry them. He knew, as he realised now, he would have to tell them sooner or later...
Before it was too late.
Later that night after Anya and Dimitri finished dancing, everyone retired into their cabins for the night, though before most of them went to sleep, Kairi decided to visit Anya, Vlad and Dimitri, though the latter was snuggled up on the floor wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by the baggages and sleeping soundly.
Vlad on the other hand, looked rather nauseous due to the motions of the waves the boat was making. To make matters worse, they were in for a storm so those who had slight or major problems with motion sickness were in for a rough night.
"Are you alright?" Anya asked softly, concerned.
"You don't look good." Kairi whispered in agreement as she sat on her knees.
"I'm fine." Vlad said dismissively, before glaring a little jealously at Dimitri's direction, and admitted, "Just riddled with envy. Look at him. He can sleep through anything."
Pooka, having sensed something, snuffled into one of the bags which, due to the puppy leaning, it toppled over and fell, with both him and something else falling out. When both Kairi and Anya looked at it, they both realised that it was a a hand-sized golden oval box with little leg stands like a tea table. It also had Emerald jewels on it as well.
"What a beautiful jewellery box." Kairi said, admiring the item as Anya picked it up and examined it carefully.
"Jewellery box...are you sure that's what it is?" Anya asked, almost absently as she felt another powerful familiarity from it. She could somehow hear music in her mind, and people dancing as well.
"What else could it be?" Vlad inquired.
"Something else. Something special. Something to do with a secret." Anya said, still absently, before laughing when Pooka tickled her.
"Maybe this is another clue to your memories." Kairi said encouragingly.
"You think so?"
"Could be." Vlad spoke this time as he began to climb up the top of the bunker bed. "You taught Dimitri how to waltz, didn't you?"
Anya decided to agree, and when Kairi bid a good night to the two of them and Pooka, she retreated to her own room while Anya crawled into the lower bed of the bunker and snuggled up with the puppy.
Watching all of them sleep were Rasputin, Bartok and Arydn, the two men smiling evilly while the bat had some compassion towards Anya and the worldly travellers as the trio were gazing more on them through the Spirital Orb.
"There she is, master. Sound asleep in her little bed." Bartok said, smiling.
"And so are Sora and his friends, especially miss Kairi and Noctis..." Arydn said, grinning evilly.
Rasputin waved his hands over the orb as he said vemonously with an evil grin, "And pleasent dreams to you, Princess, and vicious nightmares to your friends Sora and many others...I'll get inside your minds, where you can't escape me."
While everyone slept, green mists of Rasputin's Spirits appeared, one covering Anya and turning into butterflies where she began to have a pleasent dream, the rest entered the other cabins where the worldly travellers slept in groups...and the results were quite terrifying that it was making all of them twitch, toss, turn, moan and whimper as nightmares were taking a hold on them.
Sora's Nightmare...
Sora had no idea what was happening or how it was happening. One thing he was certain of, though, he was experiencing the horrors that was his worst nightmares. Everywhere he looked, he was terrified...not just for himself, but mainly...
For those he cared about.
All around him, Sora didn't want to believe it, but was as though his worst fears had come true;
Terra being overtaken by a revived Master Xehanort who held the X-Blade high up in the Keyblade Graveyard, where a beam of Light and Darkness shot up towards the familiar floating Heart-shaped Moon of Kingdom Hearts, hitting it squarely in the middle, causing a massive explosion through out the entire area and engulfing the Realm of Light, causing Sora to scream.
Then he saw Aqua still trapped in the Realm of Darkness, losing Master Eraqus' Keyblade and captured by a Darkside Heartless and swallowing her up whole where her strangled screams faded into darkness.
Ventus remaining comatose before his body fades into nothing and his heart also faded as well, gone forever.
Lea and Isa forced to kill each other while the latter had still been possessed by Master Xehanort and the latter failing to save him, Roxas, Xion and Namine who were still trapped within Sora and Kairi, not having been made humans.
Myde being engulfed by the Heartless and then killed by a blond-haired women wearing the Organization XIII coat with powers of electricity and multiple knifes as weapons.
Mickey mourning the loss of Master Yen Sid who, along with Angeal and Genesis, had been struck down by Aced who then slaughters Riku who's body and heart were then over taken by Xehanort's Heartless "Ansem" who then sends Donald and Goofy into the darkness where they disappeared.
All of Sora's friends and their worlds engulfed by the darkness and destruction of Xehanort's powers and success in creating the Second Keyblade War.
Jack engulfed by the Kracken as he futilessly attempted to kill it from the inside and had not been able to gain his Keyblade after Elizabeth had chained him to be left behind to give herself and everyone else the chance to escape.
Skuld struck down along with Ephemer and Strelitzia by two unknown attackers, one of them somehow resembling to Lamuria and another with dark hair and a hat.
Even Noctis whom Sora hasn't known for along, engulfed by some kind of Crystal as Ardyn watched evilly, then suddenly, Noctis, ten years older, is perched through the chest by the swords of many spirits before he, along with others and a woman use massive powers of light to destroy Ardyn in a spirital Realm.
Serah even, dropping dead by the blade of Caius who glared hatedly at her when her body faded away, and another woman, almost identical to Serah but about three years older, taller and a bit like Cloud, but with strawberry blonde-hair, mourning for the fallen Serah until she too is struck down by Caius.
Cloud and Zack falling to their deaths by Sephiroth who then destroys one world with a giant Meteor Spell.
Finally, Sora saw Kairi, holding the dead body of...himself, covered in blood, and her crying, distraughted. Sora wanted to reach her, to get her to see him, thinking that he has died all of the sudden. But then bright light shined down and both Sora and Kairi looked up to see a huge figure in light, with Master Xehanort, Chaos, Caius, Arydn and all of the villians Sora faced standing there. With them, were the Titans from Olympus Coliseum.
Just then, to Sora's horror, the figure of Vanitas, but with Sora's head, stood over Kairi and Sora suddenly felt frozen, unable to reach her. Tears began to form in his eyes as Sora struggled to free himself from the invisible binds that were holding him back, only able to watch as what he quickly realised, to his horror, was Vanitas having possessed Sora rise the Dark-Geared Keyblade and...
"KAIRI!" Sora screamed out, reaching out with one hand as he didn't realise that the light in his heart flared up and glowed, causing everything except for Kairi to quickly disappear before she was killed by his possessed-self. The light then lit up the darkness all around them, and Kairi, as though realising that what she'd seen had been an illusion, stood up slowly before turning around and, as the binds faded, the sudden relief filled her expression.
"SORA!" Kairi cried out in relief, running towards him as Sora ran towards her, in relief as well...
"Sora! Sora!"
Even though the voice was distant, Sora immediately recongised it, especially since he felt hands on his shoulders. He awoke, panting heavily as slight disorientation took hold before he remembered where he was. Over him was a rather tearful but quickly relieved Kairi who looked as though she'd just woken up from a nightmare herself.
"Kairi!" Sora jolted up, and before he realized what he was doing, he pulled Kairi into a tight hug and shuddered as he tried not to cry, very relieved that this was real. "Y-You're okay...!" He choaked, his throat unusually thick with tears.
While she had been startled, Kairi's emotions got the better of her and she returned the embrace, crying on Sora's shoulder as she muttered, "I saw you...dying in my arms in my nightmare, Sora...! Everyone was gone...including you...!"
Sora's heart froze and ached at the same time when he heard those words, but he tried not to break down completely. It was more important that Kairi needed his comfort despite the traumatizing nightmare which one of them had been one of them being his worst fears, combining with his other worst fears.
Suddenly, both were drawn out of their emotions when they suddenly heard Dimitri shouting out Anya's name, which caused Sora and Kairi to glance at each other before both hurried out of the cabin to see what was going on. Yanking the door open as the boat was rocking more violently than earlier, and water spilling out from the deck above and saw just in time that Dimitri disappeared onto the deck.
The rest of their companions, who all also looked like they had just awoken from nightmares themselves since they looked rather pale and sweaty like Sora and Kairi had, join them in concern.
"Something's wrong!" Mickey cried out, "If Anya's out there, that means...!"
"No time for talking! C'mon!" Noctis quickly told them, and after having everyone gather around him, the young Prince summoned his weapon before thrusting it to outside, causing him and everyone else to suddenly wrap onto the deck which they soon realised was the storm brewing, as they all, while a bit shaken form the sudden wrapping, were quickly getting wet from the mixture of rain and rough waves from the ocean.
"Don't do that again!" Jack requested, already shaken enough as he had a terrible nightmare of a possibility of what would've happened if Elizabeth had chosen to chain him onto the Black Pearl rather than sending him on exile.
"Where's Dimitri?" Ven cried out, worriedly.
"Look! There he is!" Goofy cried out, pointing to the left of the deck.
"And Anya too!" Donald added.
True to their words, Dimitri was making his way towards Anya who was standing on the railing of the boat, preparing to jump. To make matters worse, her eyes were closed, which meant that she was sleep-walking. On top of that, a giant Shark-like Heartless suddenly appeared from the water and was about to engulf Anya had Dimitri not pull her back even though, still sleep-walking, was struggling against him.
"Back off!" Sora shouted at the Heartless, summoning his Keyblade before tossing it at it's head, causing it massive pain, while Kairi, Xion, Roxas and Goofy hurried to help Dimitri to pull the still struggling Anya to safety.
The Shark Heartless then opened it's jaws and shot out a huge water-jet at the group who leaped out of the way as it hit the deck, flooding the ship a bit more. Realising that the only way to solve this crisis is Lightning Spells. So the group focused on both that and their combat skills. Sora, Riku, Aqua, Donald, Mickey, and Skuld focused on their Thunderaga Spells to zap at the Heartless who shrieked in pain due to being weak by electricity.
The others clashed against it with their weapons as hard as they and the others could against it, leaping up and avoiding it's dangerous attacks like the sharp-toothed drills it suddenly used with it's arms, though it hit them and knocked all of them back onto the deck, some of them were bleeding. Quickly using Curaga Spells and Potions as well as exilirs to regain their Magic Manas before leaping out of the way before they could get hit again.
Mickey then used Stopza to freeze the Heartless in it's tracks which allowed him and the others to attack it while it was briefly frozen in time. Sora then used Strike Raid at the Heartless' chest while Aqua used Ghost-Drive to weaken it further. Lea summoned up Fire-Balls and sent them towards it before he was knocked back by the Heartless surprise attack when the Stopza spell wore off, causing him to crash into the wet deck.
Noctis wrapped at the monster's head and summoned a spear that was modern design before stabbing it right into the Heartless' skull and grunted as he tried to hold on without losing his grip. Riku used Dark Raid as did Terra, both of them blocking the Heartless's attacks by slashing at it's arms before it even had the chance and Skuld used a Barrier Spell to block it's Hydro attack to protect herself and everyone else. Donald then used his Fire-Works Spell with the aid of Sora and Goofy(who along with Kairi, Roxas, and Xion arrived to help) who all used their special Trinity to blast at the Heartless who couldn't escape this attack.
Isa used the Gust Ability to force back the Heartless Hydro Attack, reflecting it backwards before he and Myde rushed over and whacked and slashed at it with both Isa's Claymore and Myde's Sitar, giving Jack the chance to slash at it's small legs before ducking to avoid it's massive jaws that nearly bit his head off.
Ven tossed his Keyblade at the Heartless' head before following up with a Thunderaga Spell once more and then clashed at it with his Keyblade which allowed Lea to toss his Chakrams to quickly add up the attack, catching the weapons when they returned him before he switched out to slash at it with his Keyblade.
Kairi held up her Keyblade and summoned her Pink Orb Magic Spell, thrusting it out at the Heartless after training at Radiant Garden with Aqua and Merlin, before she then summoned a slightly more powerful Blizzard Spell to give it much more than a painful frost-bite.
Roxas and Xion both joined together as they took turns in using both Keyblades in two hands, attacking the Heartless with slashes and slices as well as Strike Raids, sending it backwards onto the deck. Goofy spun around using his Goofy-Nado attack, hitting it though he and everyone else were again struck back when the Heartless' drills thrusted out and even knocked Noctis back onto the deck.
After quickly recovering, Sora then switched into his Valor Form before rushing over and thrusted at the Heartless with the two Keyblades in hand as quickly as he could before he did something he never even thought of before.
Leaping and somehow hovering in the air, Sora's two Keyblades then turned into Star-Like pistols which, while he was amazed by this new sudden development, held out the weapons which shot out multiple lasers of Light which increased the damage on the Heartless before he held them both up and it quickly turned into a driller which he then launched himself towards the Heartless and gave it the taste of it's own medicine.
This gave Riku and Aqua the chance to use their Motion Flow as they glowed in light before sliding on the railing and then leaped up before thrusting their Keyblades down at the Heartless' head while Kairi used a Fira Spell and Mickey used Orbs of Light before whacking at the Heartless while triple-air-somersaulting in the process. Skuld then spun her Keyblade above her and then leaped up into the air before thrusting it down and spun her Keyblade right at it's face as she did so.
Sora, with his Keyblades returning to normal as his Valor Form wore off, rendering him back to just the Kingdom Key, he then thrusted the finishing blow at the Heartless' chest before leaping back and once again tossing his Keyblade at it which hit it twice before the weapon returned to him. As Sora and his friends stood together, the Heartless gave a final roar before falling backwards and fell into the ocean, where a large heart floated up before vanishing along with the defeated monster.
Relaxing and putting away their weapons, the group then hurried over to Dimitri who finally awoke Anya who snapped her eyes open. She then panted and looked absolutely frightened.
"What happened?" Skuld asked, worriedly.
"T-The Romanov curse!" Anya cried out.
"The Romanov what?" Sora asked, confused and worried.
"Curse!"
"What are you talking about!?" Dimitri cried out, confused. He was then startled when Anya buried her face into his chest and began to cry.
"I keep seeing faces; so many faces!" Anya sobbed, hugging him tightly. This only concerned the worldly travellers even more as they all shared worried glances, none of them, not even Anya or Dimitri caring about being soaked as the storm had finally passed and the sea began to calm.
So, in his attempt to calm her down while relieved that Anya was safe, Dimitri returned the embrace, saying calmly, "It was a nightmare. It's all right now. You're safe now."
'Even Anya had a nightmare...' Sora thought to himself, before realising, remembering how his companions had all looked like they'd woken from nightmares before the Heartless appeared, they all had nightmares too. Including Kairi and himself...
Something wasn't right.
He couldn't believe it! Anastasia and those meddling Keyblade wielders and their allies had escaped again! Worse still, the light in Sora's heart freed him and his friends from Rasputin's Nightmare Spell and due to them destroying the Heartless, allowed Dimitri to save the Princess and wake her up as well!
He finally lost it.
"Nooooooo!" Rasputin yelled insanely in rage before pulled his face while his neck stretched up right up to the ceiling, before he began to strangle himself as well as smashing his head twice against the ceiling.
"Easy, master. Wow!" Bartok winched as he flew up to Rasputin's head.
"Calm down, before you fully become enraged." Arydn called up as he watched the rather slightly embarrassing development. Though he had to admit, he was very annoyed himself that Sora was much more powerful than he articipated. The light in his heart and his close relationship with Kairi was astonishing...just like Noctis and a certain woman he loves.
"He's right, sir." Bartok agreed, "This is no time to lose your head."
By then, Rasputin, calming down, breathed in and out while his head slowly returned to the rest of his body, before saying to try and keep his cool, "You're right. I am calm. I am...Heartless. I have no feelings whatsoever." only to have his head go into his chest cavity.
"Sir?" Bartok asked, before going into the chest to join the head.
Rasputin on other hand, suddenly realised there was only one way to settle this once and for all. "I feel a sudden onset of clarity, Bartok. I'll have to kill her myself...in person."
"What? You mean...physically?" Bartok asked, incrediously.
"Well, you know what they say." Arydn said in agreement, while making sure Rasputin didn't end up crashing into the wall since the latter's head was literally in his chest. "If you want something done right..."
Bartok climbed out of the chest while pulling Rasputin's head back out while pointing out to Ardyn, "But that means, goin' topside."
"Exactly!" Rasputin said, saying delightfully, "I have so many fond memories of Paris. And killing the last of the Romanovs and also Sora and his friends with my own hands will be so delicious!"
He then pulled up a very medivel King's red cape over his shoulders as though he was going out to a ball or something and said charmingly while spraying prefume onto himself to make himself more presentable, "Time to go."
"But you're dead!" Bartok pointed out, worriedly. "You're falling apart, sir. How do you expect to get to Paris in one piece?"
"I thought we'd take the train." Rasputin shrugged.
"I have a better idea. It'll save you from having the trouble of showing your exit visa and travel papers." Arydn suggested, before turning and held out a hand with an evil grin as a Corridor of Darkness appeared.
Slightly suspicious, Rasputin, being familiar with darkness, shrugged and decided to follow Arydn into the portal, Bartok gulped nervously while clinging on for dear life to enter the scary portal to who knows where...
Thankfully, it was right to Paris.
A/N: Sorry that this chapter was shorter than the last one, but I had done my best with the battle scenes. See you all in the next chapter!