Happy Haunts- The Haunted Mansion
The world they landed on had a large mansion surrounded by tombstones and crypts.
"Where are we?"
"Not sure of the name." Cloud admitted, shoving the gate open. The shrill creaking made Kairi wince. "There were a couple people who helped me the last time. Stay close."
A small hut had a man and his dog, the man was working on a tombstone. He froze, staring at them.
"Hi!" Kairi waved. The man put down the hammer and chisel and he and the dog went into the hut. "Um, who was that?"
"The Caretaker. I think he's one of the two living people around." Cloud pushed open the door, like the gate it creaked and opened into a hall.
A fire place with a crackling fire met them, with a portrait of a stern old man.
"Huh?" Kairi asked.
The door slammed behind them.
"Welcome, Foolish Mortals." A voice intoned.
Kairi's hand grabbed Cloud's arm.
"Easy. It's just a ghost." Cloud summoned his sword, cutting down a search ghost heartless. "We're here to consult with Madam Leota."
"This way." The voice said, a raven swooped over their heads, landing on a door mantle as the door opened.
"Looks like there are more heartless than last time. Get your key blade ready." Cloud glanced down at her. "It's going to be okay."
"I'm not scared." Kairi summoned her key blade.
"But you can feel it. There's more people in here than just us, and it's setting you on edge." Cloud noted.
"Yes." Kairi followed him into the room. The door slammed shut, and the heartless gargoyle knights leapt down from the ceiling.
These, at least Kairi could smack with her key blade. Though the close quarters did mean she got hit a few times when she couldn't dodge.
"Ow!" Kairi hit the gargoyle knight in return, finishing the battle.
"Cura!" A voice yelled, healing Kairi.
"Who's there?" Kairi looked around.
"I'm so sorry! I wanted to see if you were going to find some new treasures." The Fairy hovered in front of her. "And I was sort of worried about Sora too, I'm Yuna."
"I read about you in Jiminy's journal. Are the other gullwings with you?"
"No." Yuna shook her head. "We split up looking for treasure."
"That's good." Cloud looked relieved.
"We find any treasure, you can have it." Kairi promised, before pausing. "If we can get out of this room." It was completely paneled, and she couldn't remember which side of the room they'd entered.
"I see you've noticed there are no doors or windows." The Ghost voice chuckled. "Which leaves a chilling problem, how do you get out? Perhaps our former guests can point the way?"
The portraits on the wall began to lengthen.
"Are the portraits moving, or the floor?" Kairi felt a little motion sick.
"Of course, you could always leave this room, my way."
Wind blew out the candles. Lightning flashed, Thunder crashed, and Kairi thought she saw a hanging corpse on the ceiling before everything went dark and someone screamed as something crashed through glass.
"Funny." Cloud's voice was calm, cutting through the dark. "I told you, we're here to see Madame Leota, let us through."
The ghostly voice laughed as a panel swung open and the candles relighted. "Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you. This way, and as they say, 'Look alive'." The voice laughed again.
"I don't think I like him very much." Yuna huffed. She was clinging to Kairi's shoulder.
Kairi glanced up as she followed Cloud, but didn't see any sign of the hanging corpse.
"Madame Leota lives here?" Kairi asked as she followed Cloud into a dark hallway, the flickering candle light barely illuminating the area.
"Well, she's not exactly living." Cloud admitted.
"What." Kairi stared at him, and he looked a little embarrassed.
A floating candelabra came up to them.
"Madame Leota." Cloud told it, and then started following it.
"Cloud, what do you mean?" Kairi heard whispers behind them. She ignored them in favor of keeping up with Cloud. "Cloud?"
Ghost heartless kept coming, and sometimes the whispers turned into voices begging for help.
"You can't help them." Cloud stopped her. "They're just trying to get you to join them."
They passed a parlor set up for a wake, a closed coffin in the center.
"One moment." Cloud told the candelabra. It stopped, hovering in place.
"Cloud?" Kairi asked. "What are you doing?"
"Checking in with an old friend." Cloud opened the casket.
"Who dares disturb my nightmares?"
"Me again. Making sure you haven't lost your heart." Cloud informed the occupant. "The heartless are everywhere in here." He turned to deal with another search ghost heartless.
"I see. I may have slept a little longer than I thought."
Kairi just stared at the man that emerged from the coffin. Tattered red cloak, red fabric wrapped around his head that didn't keep the hair from his face and an odd golden gauntlet. The man's skin had all the color of a corpse.
Glowing red eyes stared at her for a moment before looking at Cloud.
"Kairi, Yuna, meet Vincent Valentine. He ended up here when the garden fell and decided to stay." Cloud explained.
"Hi." Kairi managed.
Vincent just nodded at her, before regarding Cloud.
"She needs Madame Leota's help, but we could use some help clearing the heartless on the way."
"I see." Vincent fell into step behind them.
"So, you … live here?" Kairi asked after a moment. "Where do you eat?"
"I don't." Vincent replied.
"When the Garden fell, several of Ansem's experiments got loose." Cloud explained. "Vincent and I… we're not quite normal people anymore."
"Oh. Sorry." Kairi apologized.
"Not your fault, you were a kid."
"Still … I feel bad you had to go through that." Kairi winced as the crack of the gun as Vincent shot a heartless. "Is that why you were building a gummi ship?"
"Others may forgive them, but I can't." Cloud stated simply. "I'd rather keep traveling."
"Yeah, I'm not comfortable with them back in the castle either." Kairi admitted.
"No one is, Paine is getting treasure for watching Ansem and his students." Yuna informed them. "The instant they even start thinking of using human subjects, Tron's gonna lock them out and sound the alarm."
"Sounds like a plan." Cloud smiled.
Madame Leota turned out to be a floating crystal ball.
"I am Madame Leota, what do you seek?"
"Hi, I'm Kairi, can you help me find Sora?"
"Be seated."
They weren't given a choice as chairs slammed into the back of their legs, and then wedged partially under the table, Kairi between Cloud and Vincent. Cloud and Vincent looked more annoyed by this than anything else.
Yuna ducked into Kairi's hood.
"Open your minds, focus on the one that you seek." Madame Leota intoned. A deck of cards shuffled on the table. "Serpents and Spiders, tail of a rat, call in the in the spirits, wherever they're at!" The whispers increased. "Tap on a table, it's time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond!" The table rattled as something unseen knocked on it. "Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween, awaken the spirits with your tambourine!"
Kairi was reminded of the time Sora was given a tambourine- he didn't so much play it as shake it so much his mother had to take it away.
"Creepies and Crawlies, toads in a pond, let there be music from regions beyond!" The tambourine was joined with other instruments.
"Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell, give us a hint, by ringing a bell!"
A bell rang, making everything go silent, Madame Leota vanished in a swirl of fog, the crystal ball landing on its stand.
The fog cleared, revealing Sora getting to his feet, he was surrounded by unfamiliar buildings. Someone that looked like Riku with red eyes approached, and then Sora was turned into a crystal statue.
The fog swirled, covering the image, and Madame Leota's face reappeared.
"Thank you, I don't suppose you know which world that is?"
"A world unfamiliar but familiar, a world he connected to without knowing, his open heart reaching out to another in sympathy." Madame Leota answered.
"He does that." Kairi smiled fondly.
A smile Madame Leota returned.
"Do you know the world it's closest to?" Cloud asked.
"The worlds are not stationary, they are in motion, paths that were open have closed, and paths that were closed have opened. The world that was closest has shifted away, and will not return to its former position. You are better served by forging a new path." Madame Leota answered. "As for my fee, please destroy ninety-nine heartless. I will allow the doors to open then."
"Okay, thank you very much for your help!"
The chairs pulled away, allowing them to stand.
"For any other questions, my fee remains the same. Ninety-nine heartless per session." Madame Leota informed them.
"Okay, thank you again!"
The séance room door closed.
"I will help you with the Heartless. Be careful with light magic, some of the ghosts are sensitive to it." Vincent informed them.
Kairi wasn't sure if it was because of the séance or not, but suddenly there were ghosts everywhere. Some were under attack by the heartless ghosts.
"Ah, Cloud, do ghosts have hearts?" Kairi asked.
"It's not physical, but I think it's similar to how Tron has a heart." Cloud offered.
"Focus." Vincent suggested.
It took a while before they were accosted by a floating candelabra that lead them to the front door which swung open.
"Are you coming with us, Vincent?"
"No." Vincent answered. "I'm not suited for traveling worlds anymore. I'm going to read for a while. Wake me if I'm asleep when you return."
"Okay, take care of yourself!"
The Caretaker was still in his hut as they left, a cat hissed at them- or perhaps at the ghost that flew past it.
"Shouldn't you be looking for a keyhole like Sora did?" Cloud asked as he started Fenrir.
"I'll ask about that next time." Kairi decided.
Cloud nodded, accepting the answer.
"I hope the next world is a little less frightening- I was too nervous to go looking for treasure!" Yuna informed them.
The trio didn't notice the hitchhikers they'd picked up.
I'm using bits of the haunted mansion ride at Disney World (some of the ghost host dialogue & Madame Leota's séance), the movie with Eddie Murphy (The chairs trapping them at the séance table) and the muppets haunted mansion special (floating candelabra guiding them around). More will be added on subsequent visits.
It's probably cliché, but I wanted Vincent to be at the Haunted Mansion. It's like the perfect world for him to be at.
The Hitchhiking ghosts are going to be the first summon for Kairi.