AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This chapter was both a challenge and a pleasure to write, and I hope you enjoy it!

This chapter is dedicated to crestoflight3 for being the most generous soul I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR | A GREAT WARRIOR

A knock on the door sent a jolt through Ven, waking him from a sleep he didn't remember falling in to. He sat up taller at his desk and worked the kink from his neck. The sun was quickly setting outside, and he reached forwards to turn on his lamp as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"C-come in!" he called, stifling a yawn. The door slowly creaked open and Aqua appeared, a gentle smile pulling at her lips.

"Hey, sleepy-head," she teased.

"'m not sleepy," he countered, stifling a yawn. Aqua hummed through a knowing smile as she closed the door behind her. She looked exhausted, though she quickly hid it behind a small half-smile. All morning she and Riku had been working with Luxord in the arena, training him with his keyblade. Ven had feigned a headache in order to catch up on a few hours of well-needed sleep. Aqua hadn't objected; they were covering the basics, and Ven had already recently reviewed them with Kairi and Axel. They'd regrouped for lunch, after which Aqua and Riku had decided to spend some time working together to try and unravel more of Luxord's missing memories.

"Not as far as we'd hoped," she answered. Ven sat up a little taller.

"But you did find something?" he asked hopefully. Aqua nodded. "What was it?"

"Just more bits and pieces. He seems to have very strong feelings about a handful of people, but we can't figure out who they are or whether they're important."

"Good feelings?" Aqua grimaced slightly.

"For the most part. How about you? How did you get on today?" Ven had been excused for the afternoon with a promise that he would spend the time meditating in an attempt to unlock his own memories. Aqua peered over his shoulder down at the blank pages of the journal and a nervous laugh escaped Ven's throat.

"Not much progress here, either," he answered. Aqua's smile fell as she turned to him, cupping his chin and turning his face towards hers.

"Are you still having nightmares?" she asked, studying his face closely. He pulled away and rolled his eyes.

"They're not nightmares, Aqua, just… vivid, I guess. I just wish I could remember them." He closed the journal heavily and closed his eyes, if only to avoid Aqua's sympathetic gaze. He wished he could tell her about Vanitas – about the progress he hoped to make once their hearts were able to connect again – but he couldn't betray Vanitas' trust like that. He wouldn't. So instead he opened his eyes, met Aqua's gaze, and forced a smile. "I'm fine. I promise." She pursed her lips like she didn't believe him, but she at least let go of his cheeks and moved to instead ruffle his hair.

"Well come on then, Mr I'm Fine, dinner's almost ready." Ven's stomach twisted.

"Um, actually, Aqua… I was thinking of eating outside tonight. On my own," he added quickly. Aqua tilted her head slightly.

"Are you sure?"

"I was thinking that maybe getting some fresh air might do me some good. Give me room to think a bit more." He had expected her to challenge him (after all, he was supposed to have been spending the afternoon doing nothing but thinking) and he was deeply surprised when she merely smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

"That sounds like a good idea," she said. "Maybe the fresh air will help keep you awake." He was too slow to avoid her nimble fingers as they tousled his hair, and his pout was met with a bubble of laughter as she made her way towards the door. "I'll make you up a basket. Don't wait too long to come and get it."

He watched the closed door for several seconds, half-expecting her to pop back in at any minute – ready to call him out on his lie – but she didn't. Eventually he sighed and slipped his notebook and his pen in to the small pack bag beside his desk which he slung over his shoulder. Perhaps she was too busy thinking about whatever they had uncovered with Luxord…

The basket Aqua set aside for him in the middle of the dining room table was easily big enough to feed three people, if not more. She was deep in conversation with Riku, though the pair quickly fell silent when Ven entered. Aqua stood and skirted the table in order to hand the basket over.

"Now don't stay out too late, all right? Riku and I will both be diving in to your heart tomorrow, so you'll need a good night's rest."

For a brief moment Ven wondered if she knew. Her eyes flickered to the backpack on his shoulder before darting back to his face again. Ven swallowed thickly and peered inside the basket, finding a wide assortment of food beneath the tartan towel. Riku was watching them, his eyes glancing from Ven to the overflowing basket of food. Ven swallowed thickly.

"Aqua, I… I can't eat all this by myself." Aqua smiled and laughed lightly, avoiding his gaze.

"Well I can't fit it all in the fridge, and the pantry is already overflowing. Eat the perishable things first and then keep the rest in your room. They don't need to be chilled." Of course. The overcooking. That's all it was, Ven told himself as he thanked Aqua for the basket and bid Riku a quick 'good evening' before ducking back out of the kitchen and in to the open air.

The climb to the summit was made harder with the addition of a basket and a pack that was growing heavier by the minute, and he was disappointed to find that when he reached the top (red-faced and panting) Vanitas was there, watching him with a smirk.

"You're out of shape, brother."

"That's an… interesting way… to say thank you," Ven wheezed, thrusting the basket in to Vanitas' hands and before leaning on his knees to catch his breath. Vanitas peeled back the cloth and eyed the contents beneath.

"How much do you think I eat?" he sneered. Ven rolled his eyes and straightened, adjusting the pack on his shoulders.

"It's for us to share," he answered. "I haven't eaten yet either, and whatever we don't eat will keep for a few days." Vanitas raised an eyebrow but said nothing further as he tucked the cloth back over the basket.

He led Ven around the summit in silence. Before long the grassy ledge became a thin shelf that gave way to a steep, narrow climb. The weight of the pack nearly made Ven tilt dangerously towards the ledge on more than one occasion, and before long he was following Vanitas up the narrow path on his fingers and toes to keep from tumbling back down.

Vventually Vanitas left the narrow trail and ducked in to a small cavern. Ven was unsurprised (though a little saddened) to see the cavern completely empty. It was small, barely the size Ven's room back at the keep, but at least it was dry and the floor was fairly smooth. He set the pack down and crouched next to it, undoing the fastenings and pulling out the contents.

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring more, but I didn't want it to look too suspicious," he said, pulling out a small throw pillow and two rolled up blankets. He felt Vanitas watching him carefully, his golden eyes following every move.

"This is… for me?" he asked, staring down at it with an unreadable expression. Ven nodded.

"I haven't given up trying to convince you to come back to the keep with me, but I figure in the meantime at least you can be warm at night." He rolled the blankets out and set them against the far wall of the cave, resting the pillow at one end. "I couldn't bring you a bed, but I figured this was the next best thing. If it's not enough then I can try and sneak a couple more blankets out next time I come up."

"You… Why would you do this?" Ven sat back on his heels and glanced up at Vanitas. His brow was furrowed and his lips were curled in to an angry snarl. Ven felt his smile fall a little.

"Because I don't want to think about you sleeping on a cold, hard floor," he said. "I… I care about you, Vanitas."

"Why?" he snapped.

"Because I'd like to think that if you were in my shoes, you'd do the same for me." Vanitas folded his arms with a huff.

"I doubt it," he grunted.

"We can't change the past," Ven continued, "but now that Xehanort's gone we finally have a chance to change the future. I was… I was kinda hoping we could maybe do it together."

The silence that followed seemed to stretch for an eternity. Ven watched Vanitas carefully; his face remained impassive but his eyes were ablaze, slipping in and out of focus. He seemed to be warring with something, but before Ven could ask what it was Vanitas suddenly stiffened. His turned his head head sharply towards the mouth of the cave, and Ven felt his breath catch in his throat as a shadow began to slink across the floor.

To his surprise the shadow was being cast by a small creature, no bigger than a cat. It reminded Ven of an unversed, only this creature was white all over with a pair of pink eyes, and unlike the unversed it didn't flit from shadow to shadow. Instead it almost strutted in to the cave, accompanied by a certain air of calm confidence as the creature turned to glance at Ven before moving to Vanitas and weaving around his ankles. Vanitas crouched low, watching it closely for almost a minute before reaching a hand out towards it. The creature circled Vanitas one last time before touching its snout to Vanitas' fingertips where it disappeared in a flash of light.

It took several minutes of furious blinking for Ven's eyes to adjust back to the darkness of the cave, and when they did he saw Vanitas sitting against the wall, an arm resting on his knee and his face set in a thoughtful frown.

"What was that?" Ven breathed. The frown was quickly lost behind a scowl and Vanitas reached in to the basket and threw a small parcel of food towards him.

"Nothing. Eat, so we can get to work."

"But Vanitas-"

"Eat," he ordered curtly. Ven knew better than to push his luck and so he instead settled in against the wall and pulled back the thin layer of paper to reveal a small savoury pastry. He practically inhaled it as his stomach awoke with a fervour, growling violently as he watched Vanitas finish off a sandwich. When Vanitas made no move to throw him anything else Ven slowly moved from one side of the cave to the other, settling in as close as he dared to Vanitas with the basket of food between them.

The sun had well and truly set by the time they were sated, and Ven dove back in to his pack to withdraw a lantern which he placed in the centre of the cavern. Vanitas sniffed.

"You may enjoy sitting around in the dark, but I don't," said Ven before Vanitas could voice his thoughts aloud (though Ven did concede to lower the flame until it was as low as it could go without dying in order to keep any light from spilling out of the cavern).

"So what now?" Vanitas asked. Ven hesitated and offered him a bashful shrug.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," he answered. "Aqua and Riku have been Diving to see if they can uncover anything, but I don't know how to do that. Do you?"

"We didn't need it last time our hearts connected," he answered.

"Last time we were fighting."

"If you call that fighting," Vanitas retorted with a smirk. Ven shivered.

"Well we can't fight here," he said firmly. "We don't want to attract attention." He had hoped that would be enough to deter Vanitas, but to his dismay Vanitas' smirk deepened in to a wolfish grin.

"I don't have to fight you to overpower you." Ven's heart skipped a beat as he felt Vanitas' latch on to it, wrapping it in a blanket of ice and squeezing. It was horribly familiar, and when Ven closed his eyes he found himself standing in the Graveyard, watching as Vanitas walked closer, a sickly purple glow rolling off him in waves and threatening to drown Ven completely-

"Nope!" Ven shot to his feet, anxious energy coursing through his veins. He paced back and forth, shaking it out of his fingertips. "Nope, nope, nope. I can't do it." Vanitas huffed and folded his arms.

"Backing out? Fine by me-"

"No," Ven grunted, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. "I'm not backing out I just… There's gotta be another way to do it."

"I didn't see you coming up with any suggestions."

"Well you could've asked before you tried yours," he bit back. Vanitas' eyebrows lifted a fraction and Ven rolled his eyes before sitting back down with a huff. "It shouldn't come down to one of us overpowering the other," he grumbled. "The connection is there, I can feel it, we just need to open it up a little."

"And how do we do that?" Vanitas asked, his tone brusque. Ven folded his arms with a deep frown. How could they connect their hearts? Even if they could Dive like Aqua and Riku, it would be less of a sharing experience and more of an… invasion – not entirely dissimilar to an overpowering, just with a little more consent. They needed to be on equal footing, but how?

Ven closed his eyes and cleared his mind in order to reintroduce the pieces of the puzzle one by one. There was him and there was Vanitas. The connection between their hearts was fainter than Ven's connection to his other friends but it was there nonetheless, if somewhat strained and tattered. Each of their hearts was whole now, so it wouldn't be a simple case of just bringing two halves together. They needed to take that connection and draw upon it…

"Vanitas?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you feel the connection between your heart and mine?"

Silence stretched between them. Ven cracked open an eye to peer at Vanitas who was sitting rigid with his eyes closed and a frustrated sneer on his face. Ven slammed his eye shut again, waiting patiently until Vanitas finally grunted: "Yes."

"Hold it tight and see if you can take it down to your heart station." He heard Vanitas huff and grumble under his breath and Ven forced himself to keep his eyes closed as he smothered a smile. "If we can follow that connection then maybe we can join together, rather than fighting for control. My heart has more light than yours, so it might feel a bit weird, but-"

"Don't bother," Vanitas huffed. "I've felt the princess' heart and Sora's; I'm sure I can deal with yours. At least now I know where you get it from."

"Get what from?"

"Shut up. I'm trying to concentrate." A pause, and then Ven heard him mutter: "I still say we should have done this my way." Ven bit the inside of his cheek to keep from retaliating and instead concentrated on his breathing. He focused on the connection – the tattered thread that tied their hearts together – and he pulled as hard as he dared. At long last he felt Vanitas give a frustrated tug in response. Only then did Ven focus on letting his consciousness sink down to his heart station.

Though he could vaguely recall drifting past it between dreams or seeing flashes of it between blurry fragments of memories during Aqua or Riku's Dives, this was the first opportunity he'd had to study it since… well, since the last time Vanitas had come in to contact with his heart. Things had been different then, with their hearts colliding and merging in to a single platform – two people squeezed in to a space that was just right for one. Now Ven saw that he was alone on the mural, floating over the barren wasteland of the Keyblade Graveyard. Behind his head was a large ring containing seven circles; three were partially obscured, hidden by his head, shoulder and the top of his leg. The remaining four were a welcome sight, with the three around the outer ring each containing a wayfinder in amber, emerald and cerulean while the last circle in the centre contained a gleaming silver crown.

His feet touched down on the platform and Ven glanced down at his hands. The thread was more like a rope now, thick and heavy but still damaged and frayed, threatening to unravel entirely in places. He supposed that made sense; their bond was not formed in friendship or familiarity, and was instead a lingering remnant of a heart that should never have been torn in two. Ven gripped the rope tightly and began to follow it hand over hand until his toes touched the edge of the platform. The rope continued, disappearing in to the darkness beyond, and all Ven could do was hold tight and wait.

Eventually he felt the temperature drop several degrees and he bit back a shiver. It was just darkness, he reminded himself, and it was every bit as natural as the light. Vanitas just happened to have a little bit more of it than most. The rope grew taught in his hand as a light began to glow by his feet, and he looked down in time to see a small platform of stained glass appear. Despite appearing to float unsupported the small platform didn't budge an inch under his weight, and as Ven released the breath he'd been holding he saw more platforms appear. A tug on the rope sent him stumbling forwards on to the next glowing ledge and he couldn't help but smile.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he said, tightening his grip on the rope and making his way across the rising platforms.

"This was your idea," came Vanitas' distant reply. Ven chuckled.

It would take a few more minutes of climbing the stained glass stairs before Ven was finally able to see Vanitas. He too was climbing with the rope clutched in his hand, though he was eyeing each platform warily. At first Ven thought that Vanitas might have been pulling the rope to keep it taught but as they drew closer Ven realised that the rope was instead growing shorter, and when they were finally standing almost toe to toe the rope disappeared in a shower of golden sparks. The platforms had created a bridge of sorts, and Ven peered over Vanitas' shoulder to catch a glimpse of his heart station.

It was not so different from Ven's, with the Keyblade Graveyard serving as the background and Vanitas curled around to the side, but where Ven appeared on the right of his station Vanitas appeared on the left. Three of the seven inner circles were similarly obscured, but Ven could just make out the shapes in the remaining four: the symbol of the unversed at the centre surrounded by a flower, a gear split in half and twisted back on itself, and a gleaming star.

"Stop staring," Vanitas barked as he folded his arms with a scowl. Ven grinned.

"Why? You've seen mine." Golden eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Now that you've dragged me down here, what happens next?" Ven's smile faltered and he fiddled with the hem of his jacket.

"I'm not sure," he answered. Vanitas rolled his eyes and Ven scowled. "It's not like I've done this before. I was hoping that once we were connected there might be some sort of clue about our missing memories but I-"

A blinding white light erupted beside them. Ven ducked behind his arm as he heard Vanitas curse loudly. The light soon faded, and when Ven peered out he found himself staring at an enormous door that loomed high over them. The ornately-carved panels were gleaming white each bearing a small mural in the shape of half a heart; the half on the left was made with vibrant colours that clashed almost painfully, whilst the half on the right was muted and left a chill in Ven's chest when he stared at it. Two gleaming golden handles were bound together by a thick black chain fastened by a heavy lock. The keyhole began to glow and Ven summoned Wayward Wind, pointing it towards the padlock which flared in response but didn't open. He glanced at Vanitas from the corner of his eye.

"They're our memories, Vanitas," he said softly. "I can't unlock them on my own."

For a moment Ven thought he looked almost nervous, and he watched Vanitas eye the door with no small amount of apprehension. At long last he summoned Void Gear and lifted it towards the door where the lock pulsed once before exploding. A pathway of stained glass began to appear before the door, one glowing step at a time until it met the platform Ven and Vanitas were standing on. They walked forwards together and each gripped one of the gleaming handles to heave the door open.

Everything beyond the door was white; a shapeless expanse that seemed to go on forever. The floor underneath was invisible but solid, though when Ven glanced down to inspect it he found himself reeling at the sight of the endless void below. Luckily as the door slowly closed behind them his attention was soon drawn upwards by the sound of tinkling glass. Crystalline shards were falling slowly down towards them, glistening like diamonds until they came to hover in mid-air. Each shard looked like a pane of glass, though the edges looked ripped and torn like paper. Movement in the corner of Ven's eye caught his attention, and as he turned towards a nearby shard he saw shapes moving behind it. No, not behind it, within it. He stepped closer, reaching out to tentatively prod the shard-

He was standing in the Keyblade Graveyard at the crossroads where the four paths met. Two blurry figures stood nearby; a young boy with a vibrant red scarf and a young girl with long, black hair.

"But, there's nothing special or amazing about me. I've never even made it into the top ranking. So, I have no idea why I was chosen-"

He snatched his hand back, gulping in a deep, grounding breath.

"What was that?" Vanitas asked. Ven frowned.

"I'm… not sure…" He recounted what little detail he could before peering in to the glass. The two figures were still there, but they were no clearer than before. He reached out and tapped a finger to the shard again, but this time it merely span lazily around; no more flashbacks. "Did you see it too?" Vanitas nodded.

"Those people…" Ven nodded.

"Yeah… I feel like I know them but I don't know where from. I can't even remember their faces." He scratched the back of his neck and smiled. "At least we know it's working."

"We do?"

"This is way more than I've been seeing with Riku or Aqua. That has to mean something, right?" Vanitas fell in to a contemplative silence. He turned away, glancing at several nearby shards before clenching his jaw and reaching out to the nearest-

He was standing in a dark room around a great table. Four others were there, barely more than blurry silhouettes in the shadows.

"If we don't step in now everything will fall to ruin." The boy with the scarf was here too, as was the dark-haired girl who stood opposite him.

"I agree," she said, "but we can't go meddling with other people's powers. It's not fair."

"But what about all the lives that will be lost if we don't-"

Ven took a deep breath as pain began to blossom in his temples. He raised a hand to massage the bridge of his nose with a hiss, dimly aware of Vanitas doing the same.

"Any ideas?" Vanitas grumbled. Ven shook his head (and immediately regretted the decision as a wave of nausea bubbled in his stomach).

"I don't even know where to start," he groaned. "Was that memory before or after the last one?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Ven lowered his hand and glanced around, eyes jumping from one shard to the next. There were thousands – hundreds of thousands – seemingly in no particular order. This was going to be a monstrous task, especially given that there was no guarantee that the memories had only been split in two; Vanitas' shard looked as though it had been torn in multiple places.

"We're going to need a plan," Ven murmured. "If we go in to this blind then we'll just be wasting time."

"Any bright ideas?" Vanitas grumbled, poking at the shard hard enough to make it spin like a top. Ven pursed his lips and tried to kickstart his brain.

The memories could be touched after they had been… activated. Yes, that was a good enough word for it. Activated memories didn't look any different from the others, so it would probably be a good idea to keep them separate. Maybe group them together, but based on what criteria? They would likely need to look at several memories in order to pick out any kind of pattern or theme, and if they were limited to looking at less than a handful at a time… Ven sighed.

"We should separate these memories from the others, so we know which ones we've seen already," he said, taking the shard carefully in to his hands and walking it closer to the door. Vanitas soon followed, taking great pains not to accidentally touch any of the nearby shards on his way over.

"Now what?" he asked as his shard began to spin lazily next to Ven's. Ven shrugged.

"I guess we try a few more and see if we can figure out some sort of a pattern." Vanitas eyed him warily.

"You sure you're up for that, brother?" he taunted. "You're looking kinda pale." Ven grit his teeth and nodded.

"Let's do this."

Progress was slow, hindered by the ever-increasing pain and nausea that occurred after each fragment of memory, each of which seemed to last less than a second. They slowly worked their way outwards, bringing each awakened memory back towards the door where they were grouped together. They managed to make it through twelve more memories before Ven's knees finally gave out from beneath him and he dry-heaved in to the blinding void below.

"I think… that's enough for today," he wheezed, pressing his forehead against the invisible floor and clenching his eyes shut. He swallowed several times, willing Aqua's picnic to stay down.

"Let's go," Vanitas muttered. He came to a stop by Ven and offered a hand which Ven gratefully accepted; his head was beginning to spin, and for a brief moment the only thing that kept him standing was the feeling of Vanitas' arm alongside his as they made their way back through the door. He rubbed at his temple, trying not to let his frustration show too much. Why wasn't Vanitas affected? These memories belonged to both of them, so the pain should too, shouldn't it? He glanced at Vanitas as they closed the heavy doors and noticed the twitch in his eye, the vein in his neck, and the tremors that ran across his shoulders. Vanitas was suffering too, he was just better at hiding it.

Ven had hoped that he might be able to leave the pain inside his heart, but to his dismay as his consciousness returned to his body he found it was somehow worse. Not only was there a throbbing pain in his temples, but now there was a lingering ache in his chest, too. When added to the nausea it was enough to send him bolting to the mouth of the cavern where he promptly dropped to his knees and retched in to the grass. He stayed there for several moments after he was done, breathing deeply and savouring the cool breeze on his cheek before slowly dragging himself back to his feet and lumbering back inside.

"Feel better?" Vanitas asked, though his smirk was weak and his olive skin was ashen. Ven found a strange sort of comfort in it.

"Yeah, a bit," he murmured. He sat down heavily on the other side of the picnic basket and gently let his tender head loll back against the cool cavern wall.

"Someone doesn't want us to have those memories," Vanitas muttered. Ven cracked an eye open and peered at him.

"You think Xehanort interfered with them and that's why we can't remember?"

"Not Xehanort," Vanitas said with a shake of his head. "I would recognise it if it was his magic. This is someone… different." Ven closed his eyes again as another wave of nausea threatened to rise. He swallowed thickly.

"But who would do that?" he mused. "And why?"

"Luxu, maybe," Vanitas wondered. "That is why you're looking for them, right? To see if there's something in there to help defeat him?"

"Right. But… I don't know. If he had that kind of power, why isn't he using it now?"

"What do you mean?" Vanitas asked. Ven slowly opened his eyes and tipped his head forwards again.

"Well… if he could make us forget most of our lives, then I'm sure he could make us forget about Sora," he said. "If he did that, then he could get the shard of Sora's heart back from Kairi no problem. She probably wouldn't even put up a fight." Vanitas' expression darkened and he nodded slightly.

"He'd probably make her believe she was keeping it safe for him so that she would give it back," he muttered. Ven nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek and drumming his fingers against his knee.

But what about the people in the memory? They'd been discussing something, hadn't they? Something about meddling with other people's powers… Would that include other people's memories? Ven grimaced as a spike of pain ricocheted through his skull and he leaned forwards, groping blindly for his pack. His fingers snared the strap and he pulled it closer, withdrawing two journals.

"Here," he said, tossing one to Vanitas.

"What's this for?" he asked as Ven slung a pen in to his lap.

"Aqua's got us writing down anything we think might be useful," he answered. "I'm gonna make a few notes on what we saw down there, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to do the same." Vanitas turned the pen over in the fingers of one hand whilst the other flipped through the pages. After a moment's thought he snapped it shut.

"I think I'll pass," he said. Ven shrugged, setting his pen to the paper and starting to write.

"Suit yourself."

Kairi stifled a yawn as she clambered up in to the cockpit, doing her best to ignore the aches and pains that sent tremors up and down her limbs. Ever since encountering the heartless in Agrabah, the shadows had been following them like a plague and the constant running and fighting had left her exhausted in new and uncomfortable ways. It was little wonder that Sora had so much more stamina than she did if this had been his life for the better part of the last three years.

"Feeling better?" Naminé asked as Kairi slid the hatch closed behind her.

"A little," she answered. "I think I could sleep for a year and I'd still be sore."

"I could make that happen…" Her tone was light but her grin was devilish and Kairi couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't tempt me," she sighed, leaning over the back of Naminé's chair to eye the phone in Naminé's lap. "Did you get any good ones?" Naminé nodded and swiped through several pictures.

"This one came out really well," she said, lifting the phone so that Kairi could see. It was a picture of them in Halloween Town in the outfits Donald had made for them. Naminé had been a witch with a tattered dress that faded from black to grey, pointed boots lined with silver and a crooked witch's hat that cast her face in to shadow. Donald had turned Kairi in to a demoness complete with a tattered red skirt, two small black demon wings, red bandages that were wound tight around her black-clad arms and legs, and gloves that ended in crimson claws.

"What about the ones from Atlantica?" Kairi asked. Naminé reached up to swipe through the pictures until she came across it. That had been Kairi's favourite world so far; Donald's magic had transformed her and Naminé in to mermaids with scales that glistened like precious gemstones. She'd almost been disappointed when their next world, Prankster's Paradise, hadn't required any significant wardrobe changes (though she had been delighted in Neverland to finally find out what flying felt like).

"Are we ready, Naminé?" Donald asked as he emerged from below deck. Goofy scrambled up close behind.

"All set," she answered, putting the phone back in to her pocket and rising to her feet. Kairi reached in to her pocket, feeling for the green Gummi Gem, and she and Naminé exchanged an excited smile before she squeezed.

It was certainly the most disappointing point of entry so far. They had landed in a field that seemed to stretch on for miles, ending with trees on one side and a small farm no bigger than Kairi's thumb on the other. Kairi tried to smother her disappointment; The Land of Dragons had certainly inspired her imagination with something more impressive.

Like dragons.

The tall grass shivered and Kairi found her wish granted, though the dragon was like nothing she'd ever imagined. It was small – small enough to sit in the palm of her hand – and looked more like a lizard than the fearsome beasts of her childhood fairytales. It reared up on to his hind legs, exposing its yellow belly, and its beady eyes widened as it took them all in.

"Donald! Goofy!" the little dragon exclaimed, throwing his arms wide. Goofy grinned.

"Well hey there, Mushu, it's good to-"

"Boy am I glad you two are here. No time to talk! We got heartless!"

"Heartless?!" Donald cried.

"Look alive!" Mushu cried before diving back in to the grass, only to reappear a moment later with a frown. "Wait… Where's Sora?"

"We'll tell ya later," said Goofy. "Take us to the heartless!" Mushu nodded firmly.

"You got it!"

He led them through the fields like an excitable puppy, leaping out of the grass every now and then to make sure they were following. It didn't take them long to hear the sounds of fighting, and when the first of the heartless came in to range Naminé skidded to a halt, ducking in to the grass and throwing up a small bubble shield around her.

"I'll be fine! Go!" she shouted. Kairi nodded once before continuing on, breaking out of the long grass and leaping over a small river to come skidding to a halt on the other bank, which was hard and unyielding and crawling with shadows. Destiny's Embrace answered her call, and she swung it high overhead in order to slice it clean through the nearest heartless at it leapt through the air towards its target – a young woman with close cropped black hair and a long wooden staff.

"Mulan! Watch out!" Donald cried. The woman ducked low, spinning her leg out in to a kick that toppled a nearby darkling.

"Donald! Goofy!" she called, diving under an oncoming blast of energy before rolling seamlessly to her feet. She scanned the group and frowned. "But where's-"

"We'll tell you later!" said Donald before plunging in to the fray with his staff held high. Goofy intercepted a wayward heartless that had been diving for Mulan's blind spot.

"Mulan, this is Kairi," he said with a grin. "Kairi, this is Mulan."

"Nice to meet you," Kairi called before turning towards the feeling of darkness pulling at her from behind. Several shadows had climbed on top of each other and were quickly gathering reinforcements. Kairi grimaced – she'd dealt with enough demon towers to last her a lifetime, no matter how small, and she fired several blasts of ice to stop the tower before it could fully form.

"You too!" she heard Mulan call before the woman turned back to the fight. Her staff was hardly effective against the heartless, but it was good enough to smack them in to the air where Kairi, Donald or Goofy could easily finish them off. Together they made short work of the heartless, and before long the only shadows left in the clearing were those cast by the sun.

"You fight well!" said Mulan as she trotted towards them, her staff tucked expertly under her arm. She looked like she might have said more had she not been interrupted by a whisper of movement along the edge of the bamboo forest behind her. She span quickly, staff at the ready, only to relax as a small child appeared.

"Is it safe?" the girl whispered. Mulan crouched down, placing the staff across her knees with a gentle smile.

"Yes, it's safe," she answered. Slowly more and more children appeared, all dressed like Mulan in muted tunics of green and mustard and mauve. All of the children were girls, emerging from the shadows in twos and threes, each of them clutching tightly to a short bamboo staff.

"Have you been training them, Mulan?" Donald asked. Mulan slowly straightened, tucking her hair behind her ear with a nervous laugh.

"I suppose I have," she answered. "It only started with a few simple moves…"

"Mulan's the best teacher ever!" one of the little girls exclaimed with a beaming grin. Mulan grimaced and patted the girl on the shoulder.

"All right, Mei, that's enough for today. I think it's time for everyone to go home now." Mei folded her arms with a pout.

"But I want to find out about the magic warrior lady!" The girls behind her began to cheer in agreement, and Kairi suddenly found herself at the centre of attention as they began to crowd around her, tugging at her bracelets and poking at her shoes and reaching to feel the flowers embroidered on the hem of her skirt.

"What's your name?"

"Where did you come from?"

"How did you become a warrior?"

"Are you gonna save the world like Mulan did?" Kairi's voice abandoned her, and she was left gaping like a fish trying to decide which question she could answer first. She was saved by Mulan who twirled her staff around her body before slamming it against the ground.

The girls leapt back, falling in to a neat line where they promptly stood to attention, their eyes darting excitably between Kairi and Mulan who arched an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. "A good warrior is disciplined." She punctuated it with a pointed stare and several of the girls ducked their heads. Kairi took a deep breath and offered the girls a gentle smile.

"My name is Kairi," she said. "I come from ("A-hem," Donald interjected with a pointed glare.) somewhere very far from here, and I've been training to be a warrior for many years." The girls stared at her with wide-eyed awe and she fought to keep the flush from flooding her cheeks as one of the girls raised her hand eagerly.

"Why don't you fight with a sword?" she asked. Kairi glanced to Donald and Goofy, hoping for some sort of help, but they merely shrugged in response.

"Well," she said slowly, "that's because… We don't have swords where I come from."

"Mulan has a sword," Mei said loudly. "It's heavy."

"And she has the sword of Shan-Yu," said another girl. "He was a super scary man, but Mulan beat him up – like ha! And hi-ya!" She waved her bamboo stick like a sword, darting this way and that before falling over her feet and landing face first in the dirt. A chorus of giggles was quickly silenced by a stern look from Mulan as she moved to set the girl back on to her feet.

"Be firm like an oak, but bend like bamboo," she said softly, brushing a smear of dirt from the girl's cheek. She was rewarded with a smile, and as the girl fell back in line Mulan straightened and fixed her pupils with a stern expression. "Now I believe it's time for you all to go home." The girls quickly began to pout and moan and Mulan twirled her staff again, tucking it tightly behind her back. "Discipline, girls." They straightened and bowed stiffly to Mulan who bowed back before ushering them on their way.

"Wow, Mulan," Goofy breathed as the last of the girls scampered out of the clearing, "your students really respect you." A flush blossomed in her cheeks and she shifted her weight awkwardly.

"They're hardly my students," she said softly.

"But you're teaching them to fight, just like you did," Donald argued. Mulan shook her head with a kind smile.

"Not to fight," she corrected. "I am teaching them the virtues of a warrior – patience, strength, inner calm – so that they can grow up to be strong and choose their own destinies."

"Like you did," said Donald.

"Well… maybe not exactly like I did," she said with a light laugh, though her smile was quickly replaced by a concerned frown. "So, where is Sora?"

While Donald and Goofy brought Mulan up to speed, Kairi doubled back to find Naminé. She was exactly where they had left her, sat safely inside her bubble shield with Mushu lying in a hammock made by her skirt as she ran her fingers over his belly.

"…and that was when Crickey and I got up on the roof. We were the ones to really take Shan Yu down, y'know, but don't go tellin' nobody! Can't take any of the credit away from my girl Mulan of course-"

"The coast is clear," said Kairi. Mushu sat up and fixed Kairi in his sights.

"You must be Kairi," he said. He clambered down from Naminé's lap with a smile as he ran his claws over the top of his head, smoothing his fur and ears. "Naminé has told me all about you."

"She has?" Kairi asked, glancing to Naminé with a nervous smile. Naminé grinned and dismissed the shield.

"All good things, I promise," she said, accepting Kairi's hand in order to pull herself to her feet. Mushu leapt on to Naminé's wrist and quickly scampered up her arm in order to stand on her shoulder, bringing himself eye-level with Kairi as she led the way back towards the others.

"So you got one of those keyblade thingies like Sora, right? Can I see it?"

"Uh… sure." She summoned it in a flash and held it up so that Mushu could examine it.

"Nice, nice, very nice," he muttered as his eyes traced every detail. "So they let girls fight where you're from then, huh?"

"Yes," she answered.

"I can't imagine a world like that," he murmured, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Kairi frowned.

"They don't let girls fight here?" she asked. Mushu shook his head. "But Mulan-"

"Mulan's kind of a special case, thanks to yours truly of course." He jabbed his thumbs in to his chest and flashed her a dashing grin. "See, Mulan didn't really know where she fit in, but then China went to war with the Huns and so we snuck in to the army. I took a girl off to war and I brought back a hero." He puffed out his chest as his tail twitched proudly back and forth. Kairi glanced to Naminé then, fairly certain that she wasn't getting the full story, but Naminé could only offer a half-shrug.

By the time they regrouped with the others it seemed that Mulan was well and truly caught up with what was happening.

"I'm sorry that Shang and the others won't be able to help," she said once she and Naminé had been introduced. "They're in the Imperial City advising the Emperor. You won't be able to reach them."

"That's all right," said Naminé. "We were never going to be able to see everyone."

"Why don't we all go back to the farm?" Mulan suggested. "I can make us some tea and you can tell me what I need to do to help Sora."

"And me!" Mushu added. "I got memories of him too, y'know." Mulan reached out to flick him lightly on the ear.

"You can help pour the tea," she said. Mushu balked, staring wide-eyed for a beat before leaping from Naminé's shoulder to Mulan's with a fierce glare.

"You ain't making me pour no tea," he huffed. "I am your guardian, not your maid. Y'all can pour your own tea."

Their journey back to the farm was soon brought to a halt by two little girls playing in the road. They were swinging their bamboo sticks at each other, though when they spotted Mulan they quickly hid their makeshift weapons behind their backs. Mulan planted her fists on her hips and glanced down at the pair with a barely-smothered smile.

"And what are you two up to?" she asked.

"We were fighting shadows!" Mei proclaimed. "I'm you, Mulan!"

"And I'm the great warrior Kairi!" the other chirped. Kairi felt the heat rush to her cheeks, especially when she heard Donald and Goofy exchange a quiet snigger. Even Naminé seemed fairly tickled by the idea, though she did a somewhat more convincing job of hiding it. Mulan sighed and folded her arms.

"You should be heading home, Xiaolian," she chided. The shorter girl's face fell and she pouted.

"But we were defending the town!" she argued. "Like you and Kairi did!" Mulan glanced back over her shoulder to Kairi and shot her a wink.

"Well why don't we ask the great warrior Kairi what she thinks you should do?" Kairi's heart leapt to her throat, and she shot a glare over her shoulder at Donald and Goofy who continued to chuckle in to their hands before schooling her features back in to a smile and crouching down to speak to the two girls.

"Do you want to know what I would do if there were shadows in my town?" she asked in an almost-scandalous tone. The girls' eyes widened and they leaned in close, nodding eagerly. "The first thing I would do would be to run home and make sure my family was safe. A good warrior protects the people who are important to them." Mei pouted and stubbed her toe in to the dirt.

"Does that mean I have to protect my brother, too?" she asked. "He's mean." Kairi glanced to Mulan then and was grateful when she took the lead once more.

"Of course it does," Mulan said firmly, "though perhaps you should ask him to be nicer to you."

"He won't listen," she moaned, lowering her eyes to the floor. Mulan quickly lifted her chin back up again before rolling the girl's shoulders back so that she stood tall once more.

"You'll never know unless you try. Now go on, you should get home before your parents start to worry." Mei looked like she wanted to argue, but after one last stern look from Mulan she instead reached out to take Xioalian's hand and pull her down the street where they took off at a run.

"Gee, Mulan, those kids are really sweet," Goofy sighed. Mulan chuckled.

"They're a handful," she said, though it was accompanied by a fond smile as she watched the girls disappear around a corner. "This way, the farm isn't far." Donald and Goofy quickly fell in step beside her and Kairi found herself bringing up the rear with Naminé who reached out to squeeze her hand gently.

"So you'd go home and check on your family first, would you?" she asked. Kairi grimaced, well aware of the flush that was now spreading to her ears.

"I don't need to," she countered. "You told me they were safe, remember?"

"I could have been lying."

"But you wouldn't," Kairi countered. "Besides, at the rate we're going we'll be seeing them soon anyway." The farmhouse came in to view then, and whilst Naminé chose not to say anything further on the matter there was a gleam in her eye that suggested there was much left unsaid.

We really are whizzing through these worlds!

Also shoutout to Project Destati. If you haven't heard of them, they are a group of musicians who adore Kingdom Hearts and have put out two albums of orchestral covers of the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks. They have been lifesavers for this story – if I'm struggling with character dialogue, my first go-to is to track down the character's theme from Destati's albums and play it on repeat. So good.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try not to keep you waiting too long for the next one.