King's Exile
By Cybra

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 5: Stopover in Neverland London

"You're out of your bloody mind!"

Mickey rubbed his temples, sighing. And it had seemed like such a good idea, too. Apparently, he'd forgotten to take into account two not-so-little problems.

The first was that story Dr. Dawson had told him about the "Flaversham Case", which had nearly ended Basil's career when he fell off of their world's Big Ben. Judging from Basil's horrified expression, he remembered that incident quite well.

The second was Basil's fear of heights which was most likely caused by that fall. True, if Basil had enough distractions, he would forget being scared. However, this wasn't distracting him from a possible fall.

"Aw, c'mon!" Peter Pan said, swooping in front of the terrified mouse. "You'll love it!"

The Summons growled and glared at the redhead. "No."

"You're being a wuss," Mickey teased, attempting to taunt the other mouse into taking the big step.

Obviously, it didn't work. Basil scowled. "I'm staying right here. I'm not a bird."

"Neither am I. But watch this!"

"Mickey, no!"

The black mouse leaped lightly off of the edge of Big Ben and performed a loop-de-loop in the air before turning and facing the tan mouse. He grinned widely as Basil stared in shocked awe. "See? No problem."

"'No problem'! Mickey, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

The exiled king rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly.

Okay, that had been a blatantly stupid move in hindsight.

Pluto, however, wagged his tail and barked eagerly, crouching down and preparing to make the jump himself.

"Woah! Hang on there, boy!" Peter told the loveable pup, grabbing Pluto's collar. "Tink! How 'bout a little pixie dust?"

The glowing fairy swooped over the dog, golden dust falling upon his head and back. What dust that landed on his nose caused Pluto to automatically sneeze. The dust glowed for a moment before seeming to disappear.

Mickey glanced at Basil who watched the spectacle distrustfully. Not surprising.

He turned his attention back to Pluto, grinning widely and calling, "Here, boy!"

Pluto barked and crouched again. Peter released his collar as the dog leaped towards his master.

The Summons automatically gave a cry of alarm.

But Pluto didn't fall. When the momentum from his jump wore out, he kicked his legs in the air as if he were dogpaddling until he reached Mickey.

"Good boy, Pluto! Good boy!"

The dog's tail wagged so fast that it was practically a blur. He looked about in all directions then proceeded to "swim" around, barking merrily.

"See? Nothing to it. Even a dog could do it," Peter told the reluctant tan mouse, landing next to him and grabbing his shoulders.

The Summons gazed nervously at the edge.

"C'mon. It's great," Mickey urged, flying forward and hovering in front of Basil so that they were (finally!) eye level. "Do you trust me?"

He held his breath as the tan mouse glanced at the edge again before meeting his eyes.

"Do you trust me?"

Did he trust Mickey? Yes, he did. The black mouse would never have brought him up here if he didn't believe that everything would be all right. But did he trust Mickey enough to be able to jump off the edge of Big Ben of all places?

His insides felt like they had been replaced with water. His mouth felt dry. He would have given anything to be back on the gummi ship right about now.

"Do you trust me?"

"…What do I have to do?" he asked quietly.

Mickey smiled broadly.

Peter answered for the exiled king, "We add a little bit of pixie dust…" Tinkerbell zoomed about the tan mouse, leaving her golden dust all over him. "Now, just think of a wonderful thought."

His muscles tensed, and he looked at Peter out of the corner of his eye. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"And that's supposed to make me fly?"

Mickey laying a hand on his shoulder brought his attention back to the other mouse. "I know it sounds crazy, but it works. Besides, we've seen crazier stuff, haven't we?"

This was true, so Basil nodded.

"So what can a little happy thought hurt, huh?"

The detective nodded and closed his eyes, trying to push the terror out of his mind. He had to think of something happy…

"What's this place?" Mickey asked with open curiosity as they passed the Red Lion.

"It's called a public house, a pub. It's like a restaurant but with far less formality."

"So it serves food?"

Basil shrugged. "Well, it mostly serves spirits but, yes, it does also serve food."

"I'm guessing whoever goes in there isn't married and can't cook." A smirk from the black mouse.

"Or they are married and want to forget it," Basil countered, grinning and making Mickey laugh.

He felt his cheeks redden. Of all the things to pop into his mind that was happy, it had to be when they both were younger and exploring his world.

However, it was a happy memory, making it a happy thought. It would work for the moment.

'Keep it in your mind and don't think about what you're about to do,' he advised himself.

Opening his eyes, he gazed up into Mickey's curious face.

Immediate annoyance. 'Oh, hell, my cheeks are still red.' But then came confusion. 'But why was I embarrassed anyway?'

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he took a deep breath. "Now what?"

"See if you can reach me," Mickey told him.

The black mouse backed up, holding out his hand. Basil stepped forward, reaching out to grasp it. However, Mickey kept moving back and pulling his hand out of reach, forcing the Summons to keep going forward.

Until, finally, he could not feel the building beneath him anymore.

His eyes widened. He felt absolute panic. However, Mickey was right there and grasped his hand.

"It's okay! You're fine! I've got you! You're not going to fall!"

Peter zipped around into view, smirking. "Finally got you off the clock tower!"

"Peter, you're really not helping right now," Mickey muttered.

"What's the matter, huh?" The redhead continued to smirk and hovered in a lying down position. "Scared?"

"It's not funny, Peter!" the black mouse snapped.

However, Basil ended the argument with "Yes, I am."

Peter looked surprised that he had actually admitted it.

"But I'm just gonna have to get over it, aren't I?"

Swallowing, he forced himself to look down. He swallowed dryly and started to sweat.

He didn't want to die like this! He wanted to live just a little longer, solve a few more of Mousedom's interesting puzzles. He didn't want to die like this!

He noticed that he had held on to the piece of Ratigan's balloon. Maybe he could…!

He latched onto the tail piece and placed his feet on the pedals. If this didn't work, he was done for! He pedaled for his life, hoping against all odds for a miracle…

And gravity lost its hold on him.


That sensation of being about to fall any second started to leave him. His breathing evened out.

"You doing okay?" Mickey asked, concerned.

Basil looked at the other mouse before nodding, mouth too dry to speak for the moment. Forcing himself to relive that fall had helped somewhat.

"You wanna try again?"

He nodded more firmly this time. He released the black mouse's hand, feeling the other release him simultaneously.

Peter remained quiet, most likely due to the rather powerful glare Mickey was sending his way.

'Thank you.'

Basil drifted forward before putting a little more effort into it. Focusing more on that happy thought seemed to help.

He flew forward, Mickey matching pace easily. Peter swooped in front of them, grinning mischievously.

"Last one to Neverland's a codfish!" the boy hollered before angling towards a particularly bright star, Tinkerbell at his side.

Basil leaned out of the way of Pluto who barked and flew between the two mice. Watching the eager dog made him smile. Maybe flying wasn't so bad after all.

"So, what's your happy little thought?" Mickey asked casually.

Basil glanced at him. "What's yours?"

"My secret." An impish grin on the exiled king's face.

An equally impish grin on the Summons's face. "Then I guess mine is a secret, too."

Mickey stuck his tongue out at him.

"I'm guessing that there was a reason for this."

"Uh huh. Glide lets you jump farther, so that could come in handy later."

The Summons continued following Peter, not once taking his eyes off of the star. "But if I go back to the Realm, I'll lose it."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Nobody's ever really tried to see if Summons can be changed."

The tan mouse nodded his head. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Can't hang around here forever."

They pulled into a hover, called goodbye to Peter and Tinkerbell (along with a reminder to not alert anyone of their presence), and then transported up the ship.

As Mickey settled into the pilot's chair, he hummed lightly to himself. That had gone remarkably well.

Picking a direction at random (any way would do at this point since they really had no idea which way to go), Mickey pulled out of the Neverland world's orbit.

He watched Basil pet Pluto out of the corner of his eye.

"So, what's your happy little thought?"

A chance to leave the castle and all of the ridiculous pomp and circumstance of royal life behind. To be out here, roaming about and seeing what the universe had to offer. That was his happy little thought.

The best part was that it was real and it came with a little something extra.