King's Exile
By Cybra
Suggested Music: "To Zanarkand" (Final Fantasy X), "Treasured Memories" (Kingdom Hearts), "Evenstar" (The Lord of the Rings: The TwoTowers), "It Began With a Letter" (Kingdom Hearts), "Blast Away! -Gummi Ship I-" (Kingdom Hearts), "Go the Distance" (arranged by Chip Davis), "The Black Rider" (The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring), "You've Got A Friend In Me" (arranged by Chip Davis)
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the property of the Walt Disney Company and Square-Enix. The Great Mouse Detective and the Basil of Baker Street Mysteries belong to the Walt Disney Company and the late Eve Titus respectively.
Chapter 3: Pluto
Pluto spent a miserable night lying behind his master's throne. The scent of Mickey lingered everywhere: on the throne, on the carpet leading to it, even the banners above seemed to release the smell of his master. The scent brought to mind better days when the sun shone and the king would take a break to play fetch with him in the Royal Gardens; it brought memories of Mickey pacing that very room as a perplexing problem troubled the monarch's mind.
Each memory brought new bouts of whimpering and sniffling. He would have howled but he dared not drop the precious letter he held in his mouth.
Not once did he let the letter touch the floor. When the sun finally rose and smiled brightly on the Magic Kingdom, Pluto sat up and waited for the Head Mage.
Donald came in promptly at 9:15. While Pluto did not see the mage's entrance, he certainly heard it.
"Good morning, Your Majesty," the duck greeted a seemingly empty room. "It's nice to see you this morn—"
There was a pause in the mage's steps.
Pluto rose to his feet.
"What!" Donald squawked.
The dog peeked out from his hiding place, making sure that the letter was in full view.
Donald stared at him for a full minute before ordering, "Pluto, give me that!"
Pluto hesitated. This letter was the last thing his beloved master had given him. He wanted to keep and treasure the letter, for it smelled of Mickey.
But Mickey had told Pluto to give the letter to the Head Mage. If that was what the king wanted, the dog would oblige his wish.
Pluto padded over and presented the letter to Donald.
Donald snatched the letter from his mouth and tore it open. As the mage read, Pluto watched bits of envelope flutter to the floor.
A wild squawking made Pluto jump. He jerked his head up just in time to see Donald race away.
Pluto was attempting to get some sleep in the library when the queen entered with Lady Daisy, Sir Goofy, and Head Mage Donald in tow.
Under ordinary circumstances, Pluto would have risen to greet the queen with a slobbery lick. Today, however, Pluto chose to remain on his plush doggy bed to try to sleep away his misery. He even ignored the bone in his bright blue dog dish.
"Donald," he heard the queen say, "please read the letter."
The dog listened intently as the mage cleared his throat and began to read.
"Donald,
"Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'. Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it.
"There's someone with a 'key'—the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it? We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction.
"P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal."
It was all the dog could do not to sit up and howl right there. He could hear his master's voice in place of Donald's.
"Oh, dear!" Daisy murmured. "What could this mean?"
Queen Minnie was quiet for a moment before she answered, "It means we'll just have to trust the king."
"Gawrsh," Goofy said, "I sure hope he's all right."
"Your Highness, don't worry. We'll find the king and this 'key,'" Donald told the monarch.
"Thank you, both of you."
The Head Mage turned to the queen's lady-in-waiting. "Daisy, can you take care of the—"
"Of course," Daisy said. "You be careful, now, both of you."
The queen continued, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and to chronicle your travels, he will accompany you."
A tiny voice called from somewhere that Pluto could not see behind his closed eyelids, "Over here! Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service."
"We hope for your safe return," the queen said, giving her blessing. "Please help the king."
There was a brief pause before Donald said—for some strange reason—"You're coming, too!" Pluto could only assume that the duck said it to Goofy since he had not yet opened his eyes.
But his ears pricked. They were going to try and find Mickey?
He opened his eyes and leaped to his feet as the group left the library. Finding people was his specialty!
The loyal dog sped through the library doors. Donald and Goofy had already walked a good ways down the stately hall. A glance to his left showed Lady Daisy trying to comfort a quietly crying Queen Minnie.
Pluto paused for a moment before racing down the hall. As he caught up to the knight and the mage, they closed the door practically on his nose.
The dog growled at the closed door before running down a different hallway. There was more than one way to reach the Gummi Ship Hangar.
He arrived at the hangar just as Donald and Goofy did. He leapt off of a platform and into the gummi ship's open hatch. He then sat down next to one of the windows, gazing out at the interior of the hangar.
"Oh, no! Pluto, you're staying here!" the duck snapped, grabbing him by the collar.
With a howl, Pluto strained against the Head Mage's firm grip.
"Aw, c'mon, Donald. He just wants to help," Goofy said.
Looking back at the duck, Pluto eagerly panted and nodded his head.
"He'll be nothing but trouble," Donald argued.
Pluto lowered his head and gave a pleading look up at the mage. He added a whine for good measure.
Donald released the dog and placed a hand over his eyes. "Fine."
Barking merrily, Pluto placed his front paws on Donald's chest and gave him a slobbery lick of thanks.
"Down, Pluto!" Donald ordered.
Pluto obeyed and allowed Donald to take the pilot's seat. Goofy sat beside the duck in the co-pilot's chair.
The launch sequence ejected the gummi ship from the hangar and into the unknown.
Basil awoke feeling warmer than he had been the night before. He groggily opened his eyes and blinked twice. He yawned and considered closing his eyes and going back to sleep.
Somebody adjusted his or her grip on the Summons.
He smiled softly and closed his eyes.
It took exactly 2.58 seconds for his sleep-fogged brain to process this information.
Green eyes shot back open and focused on the exiled king. Mickey—unlike last night—faced the Summons, his warm breath blowing against Basil's throat. One arm lay wrapped around Basil's waist.
It appeared that at some point during the night, the pair had rolled over and met in the middle. Who knew how long they had lain in such a compromising position?
Now it was the heat of Basil's ear-to-tail blush that warmed him. Had he and Mickey been on his world, they could have been arrested for what it certainly looked like had happened.1 As it was, the royal scandal Mickey would suffer if anyone saw would be devastating.
But Mickey looked so comfortable where he was that Basil found it difficult to gain the nerve to wake him.
The black mouse made the decision for the Summons. He yawned and opened his eyes to stare into Basil's helpless ones. Mickey blinked.
For a moment, neither said a word.
"Yah!" both shouted, hurriedly scooting away from one another and ending up toppling off their respective sides of the bed.
Basil rubbed his sore tail end. What a wakeup call.
Mickey walked around to his side, also nursing a sore behind. "Sorry about that. I, uh, well…"
Mickey looked as flustered as Basil felt. He nervously held out a hand to Basil.
Basil took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He cleared his throat. "I believe now would be a good time to…er…work on your cover story."
Clearly thankful for the change in subject, Mickey asked, "Cover story?"
"You need some sort of story if we talk to anyone, and telling the truth seems like a rotten idea. You need a new identity."
Mickey nodded. "You're the expert. What's first?"
Pluto immediately put his nose to the ground as soon as he, Donald, and Goofy arrived in the First District of Traverse Town. The first sniff told him that the mage and the knight were right in coming here. The familiar scent of Mickey could not have been much more than eight hours old. And—unless his trusty nose had suddenly failed him—the Summons Basil was with his beloved master.
He moved ahead of Donald and Goofy, paying little mind to their conversation.
"Look! A star's goin' out!" Goofy shouted in alarm.
"C'mon. Let's hurry."
The scent of Mickey went forward, so Pluto bounded ahead after it. If Goofy and Donald did not follow, it was their loss.
"Where's that key…" he heard Donald wonder aloud.
"Hey, you know, maybe we ought to go find Leon."
The scent of Mickey went right, but something strange drew Pluto left. Curious, he turned left at the Accessory Shop.
"Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that…"
"Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?"
Their voices were getting fainter as Pluto focused more and more on a new person's scent which held that funny smell that always seemed to accompany his master.
"What do I know?" Goofy wondered aloud, his voice sounding far away to the dog. "Hmm…Come on, Pluto."
Pluto ignored the command and continued down a dead end alley.
His nose led him to a spiky-haired youth lying behind several crates. The boy was either unconscious or asleep; Pluto was not sure which.
So Pluto did the only thing a dog could do to check: He started licking the boy's right cheek.
The boy started to groan, clearly groggy.
Panting, Pluto sat down and wagged his tail. It would not be long now before this boy with the familiar funny scent would wake up. Maybe he would know where Mickey was.
"What a dream…" the boy murmured.
Pluto playfully hopped up and pushed against the boy's chest. It never failed to wake his master and gain a laugh.
It did not seem to amuse this boy. In fact, it seemed to frighten him.
"This isn't a dream!" the boy cried with wide blue eyes.
Pluto sat back down as the boy stood and looked around.
"Where am I? Oh, boy."
Continuing to pant and wag his tail, Pluto waited. Maybe his master had left the boy here for him to find. Unlikely but possible. He would have his answers soon enough.
The boy leaned over him. "Do you know where we are?"
Now it was clear that while this boy had that funny smell, he was absolutely useless.
Cocking his right ear as a "goodbye," Pluto bounded off. He galloped around to the other side of the Accessory Shop and lowered his head to the ground. Sniffing around, he caught the scent of his master.
His nose led him to the double doors leading to the Second District.
"Hello there, boy," an awkward-looking man with thick glasses said, kneeling down. "You with the duck and the dog…person?"
Pluto barked the affirmative, wagging his tail.
The man grinned and patted Pluto's head. He opened the door. "There ya go."
Barking in thanks, Pluto trotted through. He put his nose to the ground and resumed his sniffing.
Mickey—and Basil, too—had passed this way twice. The fresher of the two scents (though not that much fresher) brought him closer and closer to the hotel.
'I'm an explorer. I'm traveling with my friend Basil. If anybody saw my wedding ring before, I just got the message that finalized my divorce,' Mickey repeated in his mind. 'And I look like that missing king? I hear that all the time now.'
The story was simple enough to remember. All he had to do was keep from slipping.
While he had been building his cover story, Basil had briefly gone back to the ship to retrieve a few articles of clothing. What Mickey had previously been wearing might have generated questions upon a closer look. The blue long-sleeved shirt that was almost too big along with the gray pants, leather shoes, and simple belt would help reduce the questions.
As he finished pulling his glove on (the tell-tale wedding ring concealed beneath it), he studied himself in the mirror.
'Not bad. I almost look normal.'
"Now we just need a name that's easy to remember," Basil said. He turned around to face the exiled king. "Your real name will work, but you need a surname to go with it."
Mickey thought for a minute. "Mickey Mouse."
The last name that he had picked was as common among mice as "Smith" was among humans. Simple and easy to remember.
Basil tilted his head to one side, obviously considering. "Mickey Mouse…It fits."
Mickey considered that statement before he grinned. "You know, it really does. Go figure." He strolled across the room before turning around. "How was that?"
In addition to creating a cover story, Mickey was also trying to break some of the same royal habits Basil had observed during their first meeting.2 Not an easy task considering that he had spent nearly twenty-six years creating them and he could not be sure how long he had to break them.
"Better. Still a little stiff. Your knee?"
"Better thanks to Dr. Dawson's miracle aspirin."
"Then relax as you walk. You're thinking too hard about it." Basil flicked his tail in thought. "Imagine how you would walk if you had been commonborn. Then walk."
Mickey closed his eyes and tried to imagine a common version of himself. He saw an easy, relaxed stride that could cover a fair amount of distance in a short time. He lifted his foot.
A sudden scratching on the door drew his attention away from his "commoner lessons."
Mickey tensed and sensed Basil do the same. Basil had gone downstairs forty-five minutes ago to fetch breakfast and tell the front desk that they did not need housekeeping to come through. Besides, the staff would have knocked, not scratched.
Was it Heartless? No. The senses that alerted him to their dark presence would have been wailing by now. Some other threat that he had yet to meet and identify?
He slunk towards the door, Basil matching his movements just to his right. Every strand of fur reached for the sky. His tail was as stiff as a rod. Yet he did not call forth the Keyblade. There was still the chance that the source of the scratching was friend not foe.
As Mickey opened the door, some part of his mind whispered that there was something familiar about that scratch.
Something golden yellow slammed into him, knocking him to the floor. He heard Basil's cry of surprise and prepared himself to call the Keyblade.
His attacker licked his face.
Mickey blinked and stared up into the enthusiastic eyes of…"Pluto?"
The loyal dog barked and licked his face again.
Basil closed the door and doubled over in laughter.
The exiled king glared at the Summons before he grinned wickedly. "Go say 'hello' to Basil."
Obedient as ever, Pluto bounded over to Basil.
Basil stopped laughing long enough to say "Wha—" before Pluto licked him in the face. Now it was Mickey's turn to laugh as the tan mouse began to spit repeatedly.
"Right in the mouth," Basil groused. "It's like French kissing a dog."
Pluto barked merrily—oblivious to the discomfort he had just caused Basil—and trotted back to Mickey. He fell to the floor and rolled over onto his back.
Automatically, Mickey started rubbing the dog's belly. The entire time, he guiltily thought that Pluto was the one thing he would have missed most from the castle.
Clearly through expelling dog saliva from his mouth, Basil strolled over with a mildly affectionate grin on his face. "Now, how did you get here, boy?"
Mickey patted Pluto's belly three times, and the dog rolled over. The black mouse said, "Donald and Goofy must've brought him."
The two mice froze. The dog tilted his head to one side.
Mickey reviewed his own statement in his head and cussed.
1 Until 1861, homosexuals could be hung for any homosexual act even if semen was not discharged. After that, male homosexuals could spend up to two years in prison, with or without hard labor. (This, obviously, held a loophole when it came to women.) In July 1967, the Sexual Offenses Act was passed, which made two men having sexual relations in private legal. It wasn't until 1996 that the House of Lords introduced the Sexual Orientation Discrimination Bill, which protected both gays and lesbians from discrimination. However, even though the Lords have passed it twice, it has been rejected each time by the House of Commons. For more complete information, check out this address (minus the spaces): http/lc-hiv-aids /magazinearticles /may2000.htm
2 See "King's Ascent."