King's Exile
By Cybra
Apology: To the people who used to read this story, which hasn't been updated in forever. Unfortunately, life happened and I ended up stuck. I hope two new chapters and the promise of more will appease you.
Suggested Music: "Library of Congress" (National Treasure), "The Heartless Has Come" (Kingdom Hearts), "Fuego" (Bond)
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 4: Near Miss
There was nothing remarkable about the tall man in the hallway aside from the muzzle that protruded from his face. However, non-humans were fairly common in Traverse Town (especially after so many people had been displaced by the Heartless) so no one would have given him and the well-worn clothing he wore a second glance.
He seemed to pause in silent study of a painting on the wall of the hallway, whatever he'd planned to do forgotten as he contemplated the framed image.
What any passerby would have missed was that the humanoid male was not focusing on the painting at all. He was straining his partially-covered ears to catch every scrap of conversation possible from both Room 2 and the Red Room.
Suddenly, every muscle went tense. Finely-honed senses wailed, "Heartless!"
A familiar voice—Leon—shouted from within Room 2, "Yuffie, go!"
The slam of a door inside of the room. (The sole occupant of the hallway quickly deduced that these were adjoining rooms.)
"Sora," Leon's voice continued, "let's go!"
A crash and then silence. The humanoid male's senses stopped their cries, and his muscles relaxed.
Satisfied with what information he had gathered, he unlocked the door to Room Three.
Mickey quickly but quietly started to gather his and Basil's things. Pluto was stretched out on the floor, staying out of his master's way.
Click! The lock announced that the other person who had previously occupied the room had returned.
Mickey looked up as a figure in well-worn clothing entered, a battered old hat perched atop the figure's head and covering the top halves of the figure's ears. "Well?"
"Donald and Goofy are here in the hotel," Basil said, closing the door and pulling off the hat.
With impressive speed, Basil changed from his impromptu costume into his normal clothing, swishing his tail back and forth to get the blood flowing back into it. Mickey winced sympathetically. The pants Basil had chosen on a quick trip back to the Gummi ship had not allowed his tail to be free to do as it liked, painful to any mouse.
However, the pain seemed to have paid off. Donald and Goofy—had they seen Basil—would have recognized a mouse's tail in an instant and might have tried to get information from the detective. Then, after seeing his face, they would have realized that Mickey was in the area, which was Not Good at this point. It would have ruined the whole plan.
"How'd they find us so quickly?"
Basil shrugged, quickly grabbing the discarded clothing and tossing it into the "Go Back to Ship" pile. "I'm as baffled as you are. They couldn't have followed our trail. I don't think Toby could have followed our trail had we been laying scent instead of world-hopping."
"So that leaves only one option: dumb luck," Mickey said grimly. "So, where exactly are they?"
"Two doors down from us, but the room next door and their room are connected, so it could be possible that they're directly next door to us now." Basil rubbed his temples. "Damn! This makes things complicated."
"Tell me about it. We've got to fly out under their noses. This time, however, we don't have the luxury of waiting until near-midnight."
"I do have good news," Basil said.
Mickey raised a practically invisible eyebrow. "I'm definitely in the mood for good news right now."
"The other Keybearer is here. Leon and Yuffie were talking to him."
So that was why the Golden Keyblade had been humming. He'd thought it was because of the impending Heartless attack (he, too, had sensed the Heartless that had appeared next door). The magical blade must have been calling to its sister blade.
Hopefully, that sister blade wouldn't give them away.
"Where are they now?" Mickey asked.
"They left following the attack, possibly via the balcony."
The exiled king frowned. He'd hoped to meet this other Keybearer, maybe even gain his or her help in avoiding his loyal-yet-misguided friends. Had he possessed enough time, he would have given the other Keybearer a hand in learning to wield his or her Keyblade, an advantage that he himself had not had.
It appeared that those plans would have to be scrapped.
"We're ready to go here," Mickey said. "We can take this all to the gummi ship by using the transporter so nobody sees us. You gonna pay the bill?"
"Do I have a choice?" Basil asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not really," the exiled king chirped, grinning wickedly. "You're less recognizable than me. You have a better chance of slipping by Donald and Goofy than I do."
The Summons sighed. "Very well." He raised an eyebrow. "What about Pluto?"
Hearing his name, the dog sat up on his haunches, panting.
The dog's master gazed at Pluto with indecision.
Carefully, the Summons suggested, "Trying to take him back to Donald and Goofy is too risky. And I doubt Pluto will let you leave him behind this time."
A woof of affirmation, and the loyal hound stood and trotted over to his master, rubbing his head against Mickey's side.
The black mouse sighed and gave a wry smile. "Guess you're comin' with us, boy."
Pluto jumped up and licked Mickey's face, making the exiled king laugh.
"So, we take this pile and Pluto up to the gummi ship then go?"
Mickey paused. "We don't go just yet."
The Summons stared at the exiled king before frowning, catching on to what his friend wanted to do. "It'll be risky."
"You don't have to come."
"Since when do I not come?"
The two mice squared off in a silent argument.
Finally, Basil relented, "From the rooftops at least. Less chance of being seen."
Mickey smiled, grabbing Pluto's collar while Basil snatched up the small pile of clothing that had accumulated along with some of the leftovers from breakfast. "I owe you one."
As he pressed the Auto-Recall button, he heard Basil mutter, "You owe me more than one."
With Pluto and the small pile of food and clothing safely stowed aboard the gummi ship, Mickey and Basil were free to race across the rooftops of Traverse Town, following that internal cry of "Heartless!" Mickey easily cleared the gaps between roofs, the Glide ability he had gained from a certain pixie's dust kicking in automatically with each jump. He noticed his companion sometimes stumble as he miscalculated a jump in his haste. He made a mental note to make a quick (if risky) stopover in Neverland in the near future.
They leapt through a window leading to the third district and surprised a pair of Heartless standing on a balcony on the other side. The Golden Keyblade tore through both with one easy slice.
Basil pointed towards the center of the third district where the cries of battle could be heard.
Mickey looked and saw an obscenely large set of purple armor hovering in the air, its limbs disconnected from the body and head. However, one of its legs was already missing.
The reason was because not one but three figures were attacking it. The exiled king easily recognized Goofy and Donald. But the third…
His eyes widened. 'That boy! The one on the beach! He did make it after all!'
Thank goodness. In the pit of his stomach had lurked the worry that the Golden Keyblade's sister blade had been forced to find a new Bearer. The boy on the beach's lack of expertise had been sadly noticeable even from the distance Mickey had seen him.
"They'll have to take it out one limb at a time," Basil murmured.
The shorter mouse nodded. At the same time, he forced himself not to leap into action. His own Keyblade cried for the destruction of that abomination right now. It was taking every bit of his will to oppose the will of the Golden Keyblade.
'Quiet!' he mentally snapped at it. 'I have to let them do this on their own!'
However, he chewed his lower lip as a fisted gauntlet knocked the other Keybearer off his feet, the Silver Keyblade flying free.
"C'mon…c'mon…"
The boy rolled away just as the lone foot attempted to turn him into a smear on the floor. As if on autopilot, the boy scrambled for his weapon while Goofy charged the other gauntlet, which was currently aiming for the new Keybearer.
'Perhaps his Keyblade possesses some will over him, too? Or just instinct to go for a weapon?'
The black mouse hoped it was the latter. That meant that the boy's survival and warrior instincts just might help him master the blade quickly due to necessity. That and Mickey knew what a pain a rather commanding weapon could be.
Three blasts of fire from Donald finished off the attacking gauntlet.
"Foot!" the knight yelled, jumping and rolling away as the metal foot came down where he had been standing.
The boy moved in, slashing with a painful lack of know-how ("No, no!" Mickey hissed. "Straight down! Straight down!") and striking the foot. The mage lashed out with ice this time while the knight recovered his footing and began another charge.
A squawk of pain, and Donald went flying as the armored body slammed into him. The duck hit the floor, crying out unintelligibly as Goofy used his shield to block another attack.
While the last remaining limb beat against Goofy's shield, attempting to throw the knight off-balance, the boy slashed at the fist, shouting a battle cry.
The exiled king saw his companion raise a wry eyebrow before murmuring, "Well, I suppose brute force does work when there's a lack of skill."
Mickey punched his arm though he couldn't help smiling. Then he tensed and hissed, "Look out, look out, look out!"
The boy could never have hoped to hear the black mouse's warning, so it was no surprise when the body slammed into him while he finished off the gauntlet. He hit the floor, and Donald fired a blast of electricity to cease another strike.
Goofy charged again, slamming into the body before continuing on his way. He skidded to a stop and turned, preparing for another charge.
The boy climbed to his feet and raced towards the body as Donald fired spells over his head. Goofy began his charge.
The two mice watched with tails arched in anticipation.
The boy leapt into the air, slashing while the knight struck with his shield, crouched down enough to just make it beneath the boy's jump. Lightning came down from the sky, striking simultaneously with the two attacks.
Perhaps before they had discovered the trick, the trio had gone for the body originally, for the body started shuddering, its helmet lowering into it. Light began to emanate off of the armored body, and a shining heart flew out of it.
"Let's go," Mickey said.
Basil nodded, and the pair exited back through the window before transporting up to the gummi ship.
"It looks like we're clear to leave. The ship Donald and Goofy brought is just maintaining its orbit," Basil announced.
He watched the exiled king press a few buttons. "Okay, then. Here we go."
The Summons knew that he wouldn't but always felt as if he should feel something during liftoff. And when they actually landed on a world, yes, he did feel as if a bit of his stomach had been left on the ground (though Mickey's liftoffs were significantly smoother than some pilots he had experienced while acting as bodyguard to the king). However, in Interspace where "up" was a relative term, he always had to check to make sure that they actually were lifting off.
Just like he did then. He glanced at his readouts and saw that they had indeed left orbit. He watched as the projected course pointed towards a world.
"I thought we were going to find Kingdom Hearts," Basil pointed out dryly.
"We are."
"So why are we heading to the…" he double-checked the readout "…Neverland world?"
Mickey plugged in the coordinates for the warp jump and leaned back in his seat, reaching out to scratch Pluto's head. "Because I realized that there's something there that we might find useful in the future."
Basil raised an eyebrow as the warp drive initiated the jump.