AN: Very short chapter today, but to be honest, it doesn't really need to do much.
We are also very close to 3,000 reviews! I know I say this a lot, but I really appreciate all the love and support!
Onwards!
Chapter 119
"What do you mean Riku's missing?!" Sora yelled, standing in the middle of Master Yen Sid's study. King Mickey stood off to the master's side, looking down in shame.
"Sora!" Goofy said from his position behind Sora and to his right.
"Show some respect!" Donald scolded from Sora's left, before Master Yen Sid held up a placating hand.
"It is as I said," Master Yen Sid said. "Riku and Mickey returned to the Realm of Darkness in search of a way into the world known as 'Remnant' to locate Aqua, and bring her back to the Realm of Light. However, they were ambushed by powerful Heartless, and Riku vanished into a portal."
"I'm sorry, Sora," King Mickey said. "We were overwhelmed. Even though we've been there before, we weren't expecting the Heartless to be as strong as they are."
"Well, why aren't we in there looking for him?!" Sora demanded. "If I had been there with him, maybe this wouldn't have happened! Let me go in and look for him!"
"Sora, you know we can't risk you as well," Master Yen Sid said. "You have yet to regain the Power of Waking. You will need it to free the ones within your heart."
"So you expect me to just forget about him?" Sora asked.
"Of course not," King Mickey said. "I can still feel Riku's heart, so I'm sure he's okay. It's actually stronger than the connection I feel with Aqua."
"What are you saying, Your Majesty?" Donald asked.
"It's entirely possible that the portal Riku fell into somehow brought him to Remnant," Master Yen Sid explained. "He may find his way back on his own. In the meantime, we must remember that the Organization will not stand idly by and wait for his return."
"That's right," Goofy said. "Remember what they told you, Sora. If we can't find all our Guardians, then they'll go after the new Princesses of Heart and use them for the seven lights."
"Oh, right," Sora said, sounding defeated.
"Kairi is still safe with Lea and Merlin," Master Yen Sid said. "Until Riku returns, we must make haste to secure the other princesses before the Organization can capture them."
"Besides Kairi, we know who three more of them are, right?" King Mickey asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Donald said. "There was Rapunzel in the Kingdom of Corona."
"And Anna and Elsa from Arendelle," Goofy finished. "But the Organization also knows about them."
"And we still don't know who the last three are," King Mickey said.
"We must secure the ones we do know about, then," Master Yen Sid said. "As long as the Organization cannot capture all of them, Xehanort cannot enact his plan."
"We should give the gang from Radiant Garden a call," King Mickey said. "I'm sure Leon and the others can help us."
"Great idea, Your Majesty!" Donald said.
Sora said nothing, instead continuing to look down at the floor.
Nothing about this felt right.
"Great!" Yang complained as she hauled her motorcycle out of the snow. Ruby was digging through the wreckage, and quickly spotted the Lamp sitting there, slightly buried. "This is just great! We're stranded, we lost a third of out party, and we've gained a defenseless old lady!" She finally managed to yank her bike free, and fell down into the snow in exhaustion.
"My name is Maria Calavera, and I am not defenseless!" the old lady, apparently named Maria, protested. "I'm just a little hard of hearing. And blind without my eyes, that are in desperate need of repair." She tapped on her large prosthetics, which started glitching out. "Okay, I'm starting to see your point."
"Are you okay, Miss?" Tifa asked, moving to check Miss Calavera for any injuries.
"Yang, knock it off, will ya?" Uncle Qrow scolded. "If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more Grimm."
"Does that even matter?" Blake asked. "Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm ever since we left Haven."
"Oh, and how could I forget that?" Yang asked, turning to Oscar. "What happened to know more lies and half truths?"
"Yeah, I think it's time we got an explanation…" Oscar said, before his eyes glowed. "I did not lie to you…"
"Well, you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic," Weiss said.
"Please, now is not the time," Ozpin said.
"No, we're past that!" Yang yelled. "I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!"
Ozpin desperately looked towards Riku. "I'm sure you and Miss Rose understand the need for secrecy…"
"To a point," Riku said. "But eventually, you sometimes need to put that aside to make sure people don't get hurt. This is one of those times. If we had known that the Relic was attracting Grimm, we would have taken a different way to get to Argus. Instead, we endangered a train full of people."
"Stop trying to change the subject!" Yang snapped. Ozpin sighed.
"It is true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics. It's faint, but undeniable. I believe it has to do with their origin, but I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity. It seemed like the safer option."
"You know, I'm getting real tired of people choosing what's best for me," Weiss said.
"Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?" Yang asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I believed the Kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth," Ozpin said. "And I believed Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not for the unfortunate missteps he made in his final years."
"Missteps?!" Yang asked, flabbergasted.
"How many families did he destroy again?" Tifa asked.
"What Professor Lionheart did was reprehensible. I am not here to argue differently, but does one lapse in judgment truly negate all of his good?" Ozpin asked. "Do we not all have regrets? You may have met Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him."
"Look, we're supposed to be in this together," Yang argued. "You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you."
"Do you really think Leo was the first?!" Ozpin suddenly shouted, surprising everyone. "That he didn't say those exact same words to me? I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience. I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the reason I…" He suddenly stopped talking, looked down at his belt, and realized the lamp wasn't hanging there anymore. "Where's the Relic?"
"Right here," Ruby said, holding it up. "It got scattered in the crash."
"Please, hand it over," he asked, holding out his hand. Instead of giving it to him, though, Ruby hesitated.
"So all those times you talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?" she asked.
Ozpin sighed. "That's not what I meant to suggest. Miss Rose, the Relic is a powerful item and I simply feel as though it is my burden to bear."
"But, you said it couldn't do anything right now," Ruby said.
"Why does it matter who carries it?" Blake asked.
"I need you to listen to me—" Ozpin said, reaching out his hand, before he suddenly froze in place.
"Oz?" Uncle Qrow asked.
"Hurry…" Oscar said, clearly trying to fight Ozpin for control. "He's…trying to stop you!"
"Stop her from what?" Yang asked.
"He's afraid… you'll find out what he's… hiding!" With a yell, Oscar collapsed. Ruby clutched the Relic tightly to her chest while the others looked at the boy wearily, not sure who won the battle for control. "Her name is Jinn. Say her name to summon her."
"Her name?" Ruby asked. The wind picked up slightly, and the Relic began to glow more brightly. Ruby held it up in front of her face. "Jinn?"
Suddenly, the snow stopped, but it floated in midair.
"What?" Uncle Qrow asked. The Relic floated out of Ruby's hands, and levitated in midair. Blue smoke emerged from the Relic, and the lamp was engulfed by the smoke. As the Relic disappeared, a large figure took its place. A giant woman with blue skin, who seemed almost completely naked was floating before them. She stretched her muscles and let out a satisfied moan.
"Wonderful," the woman, Jinn probably, said. "Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?"
Cinder stepped out of the bathroom, having managed to wrap a towel around herself after her shower. She sighed in contentment, not being able to remember the last time she had been able to take a nice, hot shower. She stepped into the main area of the hotel room, expecting to see Aqua there, as she had left her.
Instead, she found a boy she had never met before, with wild, spiky brown hair, baggy clothing, and large shoes. The boy turned around at hearing her approach, and then quickly covered his eyes.
"Uh, sorry!" he exclaimed. Cinder looked down, realized she was just wearing a towel, and then remembered something else.
She had no idea who this boy was.
She screamed, startling the boy, before summoning her Keyblade.
"Wait, wait—" the boy tried to explain, before Cinder heard a crashing sound and the boy collapsed. Cinder saw Aqua standing over the boy's unconscious body, holding what was left of a vase.
"He was noisy," Aqua said.
Cinder sighed. "Help me move him."
"I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid Humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer—"
"That's enough!" Ozpin yelled, having taken control of Oscar's body again.
"…Two questions this era," Jinn finished, prompting everyone to level glares in Ozpin's direction. Jinn chuckled. "It's a pleasure to see you again, old man."
"Hubba, hubba!" Genie suddenly appeared, his eyes transformed into hearts. "Hey, I've got a question for ya! Is there a Mister Jinn?"
"Genie!" Blake said, exasperated at his antics.
"What? Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've seen a lady genie?" the large blue man asked. "Never, and that's the problem."
Jinn blinked owlishly at Genie. "I don't know you. That's interesting." She looked down at Riku, standing next to Ruby. "I don't know you, either. And I know everything."
Riku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Genie appeared behind Jinn, and started rubbing her shoulders.
"You know, I'm sure you've got a real kink in the neck," he said. "Trust me, I know what's it like. Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space."
"Oh, that's nice," Jinn said, closing her eyes.
"Can everyone just SHUT UP?!" Yang yelled, her eyes igniting and drawing Jinn's attention. "We summoned you for a reason!"
"No!" Ozpin yelled.
"Now tell us, what is Ozpin hiding from us?!"
They were suddenly engulfed in a bright light.
Ruby found herself standing in a white void.
"Wha-what?" she asked. "Yang? Uncle Qrow?"
Suddenly, a path coming out of a forest leading to a castle appeared before her. A woman humming could be heard.
Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower…
Ruby could hear Jinn's voice inside her head, almost as if she was…narrating?
…That sheltered a lonely girl.
Ruby's view suddenly changed to inside of the castle's tower, and she could see a beautiful woman humming to herself while she brushed her long, golden hair.
Named… Salem.
AN: So, yeah. That happened. To be honest, the real reason this chapter is so short is because I decided to cut a few scenes for later, one of them being the scene that explained how in the hell Sora got here. I figured it would be funnier to have him just show up with no explanation, and then explain in a flashback later.
And on that note, SORA'S HERE!
So, my plan from the beginning was to bring both Riku and Sora to Remnant right in the middle of KH3, but separate them. Riku ends up with Ruby and her group, and Sora ends up with Cinder and Aqua's Nobody. Don't worry, she'll be getting a name soon.
So, I'm surprised at how many people have been anticipating the Lost Fables part of this story. I'm assuming you know the story isn't going to be the same. Is that it? In that case, I'm pretty proud of what I've come up with. It's also another reason why I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. I want to get right to work on the Lost Fable.
I want to remind everyone that this story has a Tv Tropes page!
As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!