Chapter 11: Radiant Garden (Part 1)

(A/N: Ok, so I actually have a decent excuse this time. I came down with the flu almost immediately after sending that last chapter and it knocked me out for a week. Don't worry, I'm fine now, and plan to get back to the grind straight away. I'm very sorry for yet another late update, and I promise to try and do better.)

Aqua and James flew through the Space between Worlds to their next destination, as they flew however, Aqua's mind kept pondering what James had told her about Xehanort.

Flashback

"What do you mean Maleficent was working with Master Xehanort?" She asked.

He looked at her, "Aqua, she called me 'James' but you, Ven, and Terra all call me Jim. She couldn't have known my full name unless someone who knows told her. Masters Xehanort and Eraqus are the only people I can think of who know my name, but don't use my nickname. And we both know Master wouldn't align with Maleficent."

Aqua sighed, "But do you really think Master Xehanort would?"

James shrugs, "How much do any of us actually know about Master Xehanort?" There was a brief silence, "Until we learn more, we have to proceed knowing that Master Xehanort could be an enemy."

Flashback End

"Aqua! Snap out of it!" James yells. Aqua's head jolts slightly and looks over to him. "Check that out over there!" He says, pointing directly ahead of them.

She follows his gaze and sees a familiar Keyblade Glider, "Terra." She said, "Where's he going?" Just as she had finished speaking, Terra's Keyblade Glider began to glow brightly and he disappeared.

James began to pick up speed, "I think I can follow him!" He says, clutching his Wayfinder tightly, "Let's go!" Thus, the two of them start flying at full speed to find their friend, "It's time to finally get some answers!" James thought to himself. Though he hated to admit it, he was fairly certain he knew what was happening to his friend.

When the two of them touched down, they found themselves in a rather elegant courtyard. Aqua looked around her new environment, "You ever seen this world before, Jim?"

James shook his head, "No, this world is new to me. And it kinda feels different from the others. Can't pin down why though." Just then Aqua spotted an elderly duck walking down the path.

James spotted him as well, and looked back to Aqua, "First time seeing an Anthromorph?" He asks.

Aqua blinked and turned back to him, "A what?"

"An Anthromorph." He repeats, "A humanoid being that takes the physical form of an animal. In this case, a duck."

Aqua nodded, then remembered why they arrived in this world, "He might know where Terra is!" She then rushes off.

James sighs, "I think I'm starting to figure out why she's so obsessed with finding Terra. I just hope she knows what she's doing." He thinks as he walks after her.

Aqua approaches the duck, "Excuse me." She calls out, getting his attention, "I'm terribly sorry to bother you, sir." She says.

The duck smiles, "Ach, what a well-mannered lass ye are." He tells her with a Scottish accent, "I'd be pleased as punch to help ye, if I can."

Aqua kneels down to speak to the duck at eye level, "I'm looking for a boy who's not from around here. Have you seen him?" The duck hummed for a brief moment, "I think I know just who you're talking about. He scampered off toward yon castle in a right hurry."

James smiled as he approached, "What is it with our friends and castles these days?" He asks Aqua with a laugh.

She giggles before looking back to the duck, "Thank you so much." The duck offered a friendly smile and went back on his way. Aqua rose to her feet and eyed the castle, "Terra… I hope you're still there."

James put his hand on her shoulder, "We'll find him. And we'll help him." He tells her. Aqua smiles gratefully at him before they make their way towards the castle.

They walked their way up the steps when they heard a young girl scream, they then saw a little girl with red hair and a small bouquet of flowers in her hand running away from some unversed. "No! Run!" Aqua yelled, but it was too late. The little girl had gotten herself cornered. She looked up in fear as the Unversed was about to attack. She closed her eyes and…

"Gyah!" James cries out as the Unversed strikes him instead. The little girl opens her eyes as James turns to face the creature, "Didn't anyone ever teach you it's not nice to pick on girls?" He says before punting the Unversed away.

Aqua then slashed through it and met up with the two, "Jim, are you alright?"

He waved it off, "Not important right now. Let's focus on getting her to safety." The little girl looked up at Aqua, her small hand pressed on Aqua's Keyblade.

Aqua's eyes widened at the small contact her fingers were making with the child's, "I can feel the Light." There was no more time to focus on this, as the Unversed were ready to strike.

James summoned Starlight into his hands, "You handle them, I'll make sure the little one stays safe."

Aqua looked at him, "Alright. I'll make this quick." Just before she could counter a leaping Unversed, a small mouse, wielding a strange Keyblade struck it out of the sky and landed in front of Aqua, James and the girl.

He looked back, "Hurry! You've gotta get that little girl back to someplace that's safe!" He says in a high-pitched voice.

Aqua looks astonished at his Keyblade, "Who are you? Why do you have a Keyblade?" She asks.

The mouse looks back at her, "I'll tell ya later. Right now, we gotta stop these things!"

James nodded, "I'll get her out of here." He picks up the girl and looks to Aqua, "You stay and back him up. Something tells me this little mouse is a pretty big deal." Aqua nods.

Once James and the girl are a safe distance, he sets her down and looks her over, "Are you ok? Did those monsters hurt you at all?" He asks her.

She shakes her head, "No. Thank you for saving me." She says with a small smile.

James chuckled and patted her head, "My pleasure. I love knocking around those bullies." She giggles as he ruffles her hair, but then he winces as the pain from his injury.

The child noticed this and pointed to it, "Does it hurt?"

He puts on a smile, "Nah, not at all." He says unconvincingly. The girl looks at him, unconvinced, "Note to self: Don't become an actor." He thinks to himself before shaking his head, "Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine."

Seemingly ignoring him, the little girl digs into her pocket and pulls out a band-aid and offered it to him with a smile, "Here ya go! This'll help you feel all better!"

James couldn't help but smile and accept the band-aid, "Thank you very much, little one. My name's Jim."

She smiles back, "I'm Kairi. Nice to meet you Jim!" Just then, a series of bubbles flew up into the air.

James smiled, "That's the signal. Guess those monsters are gone now. Shall we?" Kairi nods and follows him back to where they first found her.

Aqua kneeled down again, "Thank you." She tells the mouse, "My name is Aqua, and that's James, but we just call him Jim. We train under Master Eraqus."

The mouse smiled, "And I'm Mickey. I used to be Yen Sid's apprentice. I came back to him for some more training."

Aqua nodded and James shook hands with Mickey, "It's a pleasure to meet you." He tells him.

Mickey lets out a laugh, "Likewise, Jim."

Aqua looked over to Kairi, "I sense light within this girl. You think that's why they attacked her?"

Mickey nodded, "Yep, I think ya might be absolutely right." He tells her, "If ya ask me, she must be somebody pretty extraordinary."

James looked at Kairi, "Are these two suggesting she's a Princess of Heart?" He studies her a moment longer, "Well, I guess if Alice can be one, little Kairi here certainly can."

Aqua nodded, "Yes. I'm quite certain she's someone we're supposed to protect."

Mickey extended his hand, "Let's join forces!" Just then, his pocket began to glow, "Oh no! Not now!" He says in a panic. James quickly pulls Kairi back as Mickey gets enveloped in a light, "I'll be ok!" He then turns into a shooting star and hits himself against the castle as he rises, "See ya real soon!"

Kairi then held out the flowers she was holding to Aqua, "Here!" She says.

Aqua smiles, "Are these for me?" She asks.

Kairi smiles and nods, "I picked you some flowers. Thank you for saving me."

Aqua's smile widened, "But wait, what about Jim? He helped a lot too."

Jim smirked and revealed the band-aid over his injury, "She already got me something." He says.

Aqua resists the urge to laugh, and takes the flowers from the child, "Oh, they're lovely. You're so sweet."

The child bounces on her feet slightly, "My name's Kairi. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Aqua." She then paused slightly, "Kairi, about that light-."

"Kairi!" called an elderly woman who was walking along the path.

Kairi looked to her with a smile, "Oh! Grandma!"

James shrugs, "You better head on back. You've had a big day, Little Red." He says ruffling her hair again, generating another laugh from the child.

Aqua looked back at the girl, "Wait, Kairi, just a minute…" Aqua then placed two of her fingers on the little charm on Kairi's necklace, causing the charm to glow for a brief instance, "I just cast a magic spell on you. One day when you're in trouble, the light within you will lead you to the light of another. Someone to keep you safe."

Kairi gets a large, happy grin on her face, "Thanks!" She tells her before leaving to go with her grandmother.

James looks down at Aqua, "Who do you think the light will lead her to when the time comes?" He asks her.

Aqua shakes her head, "Who knows?" She says honestly, "But whoever it is. It'll be someone very important to her. Someone she knows that she can trust with all her heart."

(A/N: That's it for this chapter! A couple of things I wanna talk about. First off, I chose to break this world into a two-parter since this is such an important world in the story of Birth by Sleep for our Wayfinder Trio. Second, those who played Union Cross probably got curious as to why Jim and Mickey didn't seem to know each other. The reason is because that part honestly seemed like empty filler for the game. What's more, it just didn't seem to make sense being there to me, so as far as I'm concerned, this is there first-time meeting. Third, since this world is a two-parter, I'm not going to give it a little side-story chapter, so I apologize if you were expecting that, but I didn't wanna make three chapters about a single world. With that out of the way, did ya like it? Hate it? Somewhere in the middle? Lemme know in a review. I always read every review I get, sometimes you guys give me great ideas, and credit is always given to the person who inspired it, if I choose to use it. The criticisms are useful to me as well. If I'm doing something wrong, I wanna know so I can change it, and make this story even better for you guys. After all, that's why we write these stories, isn't it? To give you readers something interesting to read? Anyways, I've babbled long enough. See ya next time!)