Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode IV: Fallen from the Tree.

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means that it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, and the Wizard of Oz, originally created by L. Frank Baum.

Sora was climbing a tree, striving, reaching for the fruit that hung so tantalizingly close. This was not the easiest feat to accomplish in his current weakened condition, but he was also very hungry, and that hunger drove him to try. Finally, with one trembling hand he reached, stretched, and pulled at the tempting globe at the end of one twig.

What happened next was unexpected. Instead of the fruit merely coming off the branch, it seemed as if the tree itself emitted a cry of pain and even thrashed its branches as if to throw the boy out of itself. In any case Sora fell, hitting the ground under the tree and being knocked unconscious.

When he came to again, he was in for another surprise, for he saw a stranger's face looking down at him. Furthermore, it was not the face of a human being, even though it was humanoid in appearance. Instead it seemed that it was made of old, worn, pitted metal, with small spots of rust here and there. The nose was a hollow spike and the jaw was a separate piece, connected to the face by hinges on either side. Since Sora had just awakened, his startled reaction to something unexpected was quite natural.

"Huh, what!" the boy exclaimed, his body jerking a little in surprise.

"Oh, sorry", said a gentle, slightly metallic man's voice. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Sora looked at the 'being' again, this time noticing that in fact 'He' was made up entirely out of the same metal his face was made of, his body seeming to constructed of a series of cylinders sized and shaped a human torso and limbs and articulated into a humanoid shape.

Tin Man noticed the boy staring at him and asked, "What is something wrong?"

"No." Sora said, "I didn't expect a guy in armor to be standing over me like that.", as he struggled to get up.

"Huh?" the metal man replied. He looked puzzled, as much as someone with a rigid metal face could look as he caught the look of incomprehension on the boy's own face. Then, thinking about where the young man had been laying, he asked, "Well anyway, what were you doing sleeping under a tree around here anyway?"

The boy was confused for a moment, then with the growling of his stomach reminding him he answered, "I was hungry, so I was trying to get some fruit out of one of these trees and."

The metal man chuckled a little despite himself, then immediately apologized for doing so. "You were trying to get apples out of the old Witch's trees? You must be very hungry if you were climbing those trees!"

"Yes." Sora replied simply, "But I fell out, almost as if"

"It threw you out?" the metal man finished. "That's what the trees around here are like. They used to talk too, but the magic has weakened in the seventy or so years since the witch's demise"

"Magic, Witch?" Sora asked incredulously.

"Yes, didn't your folks ever tell you about it?" the 'Knight' replied.

The boy simply shook his head.

The metal man's face and manner betrayed his surprise. "I thought everybody in Oz knew about the old Witches and how we got rid of them."

"Oz?" the boy asked.

Again, the metal man was shocked for a moment then remembered how he had stumbled across the young man flat on the ground, and that he didn't even know where he was, or even the name of the country. 'What did Scarecrow call it?' he thought to himself, 'When you hit your head on something and can't remember, Am, am-something?' He thought for a moment longer 'But no, if he knew before, he would not have come here in the first place. Then why?" Then he remembered someone else who hadn't known about the witch's apple trees when he had first met her, and her ignorance had been understandable, since she had been from elsewhere. Could this young man be? But no, that wasn't possible now, was it?

"Excuse me," the metal man said, "are you from a country called Kansas by any chance?"

"Huh?" Sora replied. "No, Destiny Islands. I've never heard of a country called Kansas."

"Hmm" the metal man pondered. "There are no 'Destiny Islands' that I know of in Oz, so surely you must be from elsewhere. In that case, let me introduce myself. I am the Tin Man of Oz. You can call me Tin Man" He offered his hand for a greeting.

"I'm Sora" Sora replied, accepting it.

"Well Sora, welcome to our country"

Meanwhile, Donald was waking from his post-meal nap. After stretching and yawning, he got up and moved over to nudge his friend.

"Goofy, wake up!" the duck shouted as he kicked the dog-man in the shin.

"Ouch!" Goofy exclaimed as the slight pain woke him up. "Hey, what is it Donald?" he added.

"We're in trouble!" the duck man responded.

"Huh?" Goofy replied, still a little confused after waking up.

"Listen! We're stuck who knows where by who knows who! We have to get out of here!"

"Well, gosh!" Goofy replied. "Where do we start?"

Donald quacked, beginning to lose his temper. "Find the way out!" he shouted.

"Okay, okay, don't get your feathers all in a ruffle Donald!" Goofy replied. "Let's see, if were in the treasury of some castle, the way out should be up, or is that down? Well anyway let's find the stairs first then find the door." As he finished the sentence, he moved off toward the treasure room's gate.

For a moment Donald had not noticed that his friend had moved. When he did, he panicked a little shouting "Hey wait for me!" just as Goofy himself waved toward him and said "Come on Donald!"

A little while later Sora and Tin Man had moved out of the Witch's orchard a little ways and onto a small dirt trail. Unfortunately, Sora's strength had started to give out just as they reached it, his hunger overtaking him. So, even if Tin Man didn't like it, they had to stop for the evening, Sora resting while Tin Man made camp. When he had finished, he came over to check on his new friend.

"I'm sorry." Tin Man said. "You really are in a bad way aren't you? No wonder you were driven to pick apples from the witch's orchard!"

"So hungry", Sora replied, "food."

"Just hold out a little while longer. I'll go find you something, I hope." Tin Man told him.

Sora didn't reply, being too hungry.

It took Goofy a little longer to find the way out than he thought, since the old Witch's castle was configured a lot differently than Disney Castle was. In fact, he was totally confused, and it wasn't until nightfall, as evidenced by the fading of what little light there was, that he and Donald found themselves in the front hall.

"Finally" Donald said exasperated. "I swear Goofy you have the direction sense of a stone"

"Well, I haven't ever been here before" Goofy replied earnestly.

"True," the duck replied "but now we're going to have to spend the night here. And no, I don't think we should look for the bedroom!"

"Gosh, I hope there aren't any monsters in here" Goofy said. "It's scary enough just being dark."

"You worry too much!" Donald told him. Then reaching into the sack that they brought with them from the treasury, he brought out the remaining package and bottle and handed them one at a time to his friend.

"Here, you can have these." he told Goofy.

"What about you" the dog-man replied.

"I'm not hungry" Donald told him.

"Well, I'm not hungry either" Goofy replied.

"Okay, then don't eat it" Donald replied. "Just don't complain later!"

A little while later, Sora heard the sound of the metallic footsteps which marked the Tin Man's return. When he turned his head to look, he saw that the woodsman was carrying two objects, one in each hand. One was a metal bucket which gleamed red in the firelight, the other some sort of bottle.

"Well, it took a little while, but I managed to find a Lunch Pail Tree that had a couple of buckets still on it. I even spotted a Cola Bottle Tree on my way back. I just hope they're not overripe." With that, Tin Man walked around the campfire and offered them to the boy, who accepted them and said "Thank you".

"You're welcome." Tin Man replied.

Sora made a closer examination of the red bucket and found it to be just that, a metal bucket with a leather lid. Pulling back the top, he found that it contained a sandwich wrapped in what appeared to be wax paper, along with a piece of fruit. . He reached in and grabbed the sandwich, removed the waxed paper wrapper, and took a bite. It did indeed taste a little overripe, as if it had sat in an un-refrigerated container all day, but Sora was hungry enough not to care. He then turned his attention to the piece of fruit, which turned out to be okay. After finishing both of these items, he found that he had a dry 'stuck' sensation in his throat. This turned his attention to the bottle that the Tin Man had brought him. This seemed to be made out of green glass, slightly curved in at the middle, and filled with a dark liquid. He also saw that the top of the bottle was sealed with a strange cap that looked like a screw. He turned the 'screw' and a slight hiss could be heard. Continuing to twist the cap, the boy soon had it completely off. He then brought the container to his lips and took a sip. The liquid inside was a little bit fizzy, moderately sweet and somehow cut right through the dryness in his mouth and throat."

"Ah, that's good!" Sora said, after which he drank more out of the bottle.

"Dorothy always used to say that when she drank one." the Tin Man replied, a little sadly.

The boy paused for a moment, swallowed, then looked up at Tin Man and asked, "Uh, who is Dorothy?" then took another sip.

Tin Man shook his head, looking sad. "She was an old friend of mine, from a long time ago."

"Oh, what happened to her?" Sora asked, having recovered enough to notice Tin Man's expression.

"She passed on just a few months ago. Nothing bad, I don't think. She was just old. Anyway, I still miss her."

"I see." Sora said.

"It's not something to dwell on." Tin Man replied. "You just need to rest and get your strength back then when you're ready, I can take you to town."

Sora nodded as he slowly rose, stumbling off a little ways to use the bathroom, after which he returned to the fireside and did just what Tin Man had suggested.

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Meeting with the Lutz.

Author's Note: Yes, I know that this installment is a little uneven. This is partly due to the fact that I had drafted an earlier version of this tale before Chain of Memories came out, and originally Donald and Goofy were not even in this story. Now, to account for the changes in the Kingdom Hearts Canon, I have had to work them into this tale.

Cordially Yours, Talanane.