A couple of quick disclaimers: We don't own nothing you recognize as otherwise. That includes references to Yu Yu Hakushu, Cardcaptor Sakura, Lord of the Rings, Bionicle, and anything else we might throw in here. Angel's World is a big place—scary place to visit. I should know. I live there. Dirken is mine. The Dimensional Theory is mine. No stealing!

Chapter 8: Angel's World

***David***
Sora, Goofy, Donald, and I had been zipping through the Gummi Space for almost a week when we reached our destination, a small world from which the Great Wall shone new. The little indicator light kept flashing "Ancient China," telling us we had indeed reached our destination. Donald brought the ship to a smooth landing, and with a hiss of air, we walked down the ship's plank to the grassy ground, below a beautiful cherry blossom tree.
"David?"
"Angel?"
"DAVID!"

"ANGEL!"

"Please stop that," she said, her eyes twinkling merrily. "How ya been, bro?"
"Peaches and cream," I grinned. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, I'd like you to meet my sister, Angel."
After much conversation, Donald and Goofy were both very curious to hear about Angel's adventures in Ancient China. Angel smiled and told us that she'd done nothing much, and asked only what we'd done. Elated, I related the entire story back to her in a few short hours.
By this time, Mulan and her father came round the tree. Mulan's eyes widened, then she smiled.
"Your brother?" she asked.
"Wha—how—when—?"
Apparently she hadn't said anything about me.
"You spoke much of him in your sleep," Mulan said. "You must be very happy to be reunited with him."
Angel only smiled. I noticed a great change had overcome her. Sure, her clothes had changed—but there was something else. Her figure, her entire mind, even, seemed to have changed. Then I realized it. Angel was happy.
"Well," she said after a moment's pause. "Mulan, we must be going."
"Now hold on a minute there!" Mushu scrambled up on all four claws, sitting on Angel's shoulder. "This is your brother?"
"That's him," Angel said.
"The god Chi is your brother."
"Uh...I'm not a god," I said.
There was a quick exchange of protest from Mulan, Mushu, and Mr. Fa, but by and large, Mushu explained the conversation he'd had with Angel a while ago. Mushu agreed, after a squelched protest from Donald, to retrieve his sister and the two dragons would come with us.
Angel stayed behind to say goodbye to Mulan, but soon we were aboard the Gummi Ship once again, headed for another world near us. It was a mystery world, a world King Mickey didn't know what was what on.
"Hey, Angel, what's this?" I ran my hand along the form of a simple- looking bow and a quiver full of arrows. I suspected that Mulan had given it to her, but it didn't look like a Chinese bow.
"It's my Keybow. What's that?"
"Wha-at?!"
"That's his Keystaff," Sora said. "And this is my Keyblade. Donald said we're some kind of Triad."
And Donald related the story to Angel.
The Keyblade, the Keybow, and the Keystaff. The Keyblade was made to lock Kingdom Hearts, the world from which the Heartless, those without hearts, appeared. However, it also will separate the worlds again. No one really knows why the Keybow or the Keystaff was made. It's a mystery, even to King Mickey.
I remembered it the way Squall had recounted it. How each Key could lock doors. But why so many? Why did there need to be three keys? Angel was as stumped as I was, but she didn't look too surprised about the matter.
Sora settled in on the seat, un-strapping his crash webbing as the stars streaked by outside the windows. It would take three days to get to the next world. If nothing else, I was glad that my sister was safe and by my side once again. ***Angel***
"So, babe, where were you guys?" I asked, smiling.
"Wonderland," David said. "Lotus Forest was too big for my liking."
"It was always the shortest, actually." He only groaned.
"Did you really create dimensions," Goofy asked.
"Whole worlds?" Sora.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"See!" David yelled. "I wasn't lying!"
"Tell us about these stories," Donald said. "These theories."
I paused a moment, considered them, and smiled. "I'll tell you everything I know. Five years ago, a little blue dragon told me that I was a Creator. It was in my capabilities to create places, people. I could populate whole worlds with my characters, and, over time, I did.
"I began to write about dimensions, how the ultimate Creator made everything so He could contain all the evil in the world. Into one world. Evil escaped, in the form of darkness. Not necessarily the Heartless, but demons, creatures, beasts, and even humans and humanoids. I made a theory of my own a while ago, though. Darkness is not complete, in anything. Always there is gray, even in the purest.
"I always dreamt of going to another dimension, but it was only in stories that anyone could. So always, I would write about them. Demons in my stories were just as capable of crossing over and people were, and angels. I think that's where my problems erupted. By allowing the evil to seep through the cracks...I think I've enabled the Heartless to travel.
"There always was a mastermind behind everything, though. Ansem for here. But, somehow...I don't know, I feel as if he isn't the only one anymore. He believes so fervently in the darkness...Anyway, um...you get the gist, right?"
The boys nodded dumbly.
After a moment of silence, David cut through it again.
"Hey, sis? What's that, in your jacket?"
"What?"
"This," he picked up a blue crystal, lodged in the threads of my jacket. I blinked, and smiled.
"Thanks." It was a shard of my ice arrow. I took it out and replaced the shard in the head of the arrow. It flashed white-blue light, and took shape again. The Japanese symbols morphed into English.
"Spirit Detective Hieh. Huh. David. We're not in Kingdom Hearts anymore. I think we're in my world."
"What?!"
"The worlds I threw together in my writing. There is no other possibility. And that means, quite frankly, that Ansem is no longer our bad guy."

"Then who the heck is?"
"Dirken. And he's coming for me all over again." ***David***
We finally arrived at our destination world. The console of the Gummi Ship beeped and revealed the name of the world: The Clow. I didn't immediately recognize it, but Angel grinned as she watched the clouds come up toward us. She only smiled like that when she knew something. I grinned too. My sister was happy.
Which meant she had some idea of what was going on.
"Where are we, Angel?"
"Cardcaptor Sakura. I wrote a very short story about it once, through someone else's eyes. I never finished it because I never read the last book of the series."
"What is this place?" Donald asked.
"The Clow," Goofy pointed out.
"I think he meant what sort of place it is," Sora said. "I'm sort of curious myself."
"It's a magic world," Angel said. "A man formed nineteen cards, combining Chinese and English magic into them. A little girl is collecting them, making them her own. I don't want to spoil it until we've seen where they are."
We climbed off the ship, right into the middle of a park. The sun was just rising over the horizon, revealing in the light several people. Two small girls, two small boys, two teenage boys, a teenage girl, and two large, feline-like creatures, all facing a tall man behind whom we'd just landed our Gummi Ship.
Needless to say, much explaining was needed on all parties.
The park exploded in noise and shouts hopeful of explanation.
"Calm down, everyone," said one of the small boys.
"Please!" Angel added.
"Come back to my house, I will explain everything. I think."
"I will explain what he can't!" Angel said, grinning. "Hi, Eriol, long time, no see."
"It's been a while yet, Sira."
"Sira?" I blinked. "Angel, who's he talking about?"
Angel only smiled.
We followed the rather large party, passing several awakening peoples. It looked as if the whole town had fallen asleep. Angel frowned. A man with swirling eyes was staring at them as though unable to believe that he was even here on Earth.
"Drunk," she muttered. "Hey, fella, you okay?"
"Yers, shma'amsh!" he said, grinning foolishly. "Shain'tsh a shurty day, yahsh?"
"Indeed," Angel replied coolly.
We passed the man and finally arrived at a rather large house. Not exactly a mansion, in so many terms, but still very big. Bigness described it quite well, as we passed the large, heavy oak door and into a vast room containing only a table, a high-backed, winged chair, and an already blazing fireplace.
After a short description of the current mission on our heads, Eriol gave a quick nod. He frowned and began to speak.
"These Heartless you speak of, are they black with pointed limbs, much like a wingless fly, about a half meter tall?"
"The Shadow Heartless," Angel nodded. "You've seen them, then?"
"No. I've only just begun to hear of the creatures through my fortune telling. It would be a great aid to our world if you would lock the door before they can get through."
"Do you know where it is?" I asked.
Eriol heaved a great sigh, long beyond his years. "No. I have narrowed it down a ways, but the magic properties of darkness are far beyond my powers. At least now that Fujitaka has half of them."
"Maybe...Maybe Li could help them," Sakura said.
"I'm afraid his powers are much too weak. His mother's, however...Syaoran, do you suppose your mother would aid us?"
"Of course."
"There is a telephone in the hall. Please, explain the situation to her. Unless she already knows.
"It is good to see you again, Sira. Much time has passed."
"Too much, Clow," Angel smiled knowingly. "What became of your mistress?"
"Please," he waved a hand. "Joke no longer about that woman. She used her magic for evil—"
"As I told you she would."
Every person in the room, including myself, stared between the two. It was obvious they knew each other far better than even I could have predicted.
"Angel...why does he keep calling you Sira?"
"It's my name, in this dimension. Each person has multiples in other dimensions, though they don't necessarily share the same name. For example, 'I' was Mulan in Ancient China. That's why I looked like her so much when I 'transformed' the way I did."
"You did a lot more in China than you've let on," I said.
"Duh, kid. I did a lot more than you'd like to think about."
I took her in again, seeing the thinner, firmer frame of her body, of her mind. Angel had changed in a few short weeks. She wasn't quite the same person. My sister had begun to adapt to her own world.
And it was scaring me.
Silence reigned in the room for a moment. Only the distant voice of Syaoran on the telephone could be heard. The cradle gave a quick click as he hung up and returned to the room.
"She said it's in Tomoeda. That is all she knows. She has a word for Sira or Angel, whatever. A note she found in a trunk.

Ice the demon,
Fire the Papers,
Show no mercy,
In this day of Capers.

"Her grandmother gave it to her, after thirty years of a single dream. Any meaning to you?"
"Yes," Angel smiled gratefully. "It was a note to myself where we could find the Keyhole."
"How did you—"
"Don't ask, D," Angel smiled. "This is not your concern."
"Of course it's my concern! Angel, we've got to find that Keyhole and lock it up—"
"Who said anything about 'we,'" Angel said. "I don't care, David. I was better off without you. You didn't survive on your own, kid! You survived only because Sora helped you. If you were all by yourself, you wouldn't make it. I made it. I adapted. I'm the ultimate of our species, and, unfortunately for your puny head, the only female in this group. Therefore, I am superior."
She stomped out, leaving very stunned and confused people behind. She left behind, most of all, me. Her words had struck home. She was right. Angel was right. I wasn't cut out to be here. It was only through sheer dumb luck that I'd done anything. Sakura broke from the crowd, glanced at me, Eriol, and Syaoran, and raced after Angel.
"David, don't listen to her, she isn't—"
"She's right, Sora," I said. "I would never have survived without you and Donald and Goofy. She's right."
I sat down on the floor and cried.
I realized what I was doing and cried more for my weakness.