Riku was pretty sure he got his blushing under control by the time they landed in the Forest Clearing that stood between Aurora's Castle and the Waterfront that led to Maleficent's old domain. At the very least, neither Aurora or the four guards accompanying her carriage seemed to point out anything, and judging from their attitudes he was sure they were looking for anything they could use against the foreigners on this mission.
Mickey had barely got through greeting "Princess Aurora" when the captain of the guard immediately growled out, "That's Queen Aurora to you, rodent." He looked about ready to continue his rant when Aurora cut him off.
"And that's King Mickey to you, Captain Richard. I am sure you remember your briefings on the details of this mission to remember that our honored guests come from well beyond the borders of our kingdoms and would not be immediately privy to recent changes here. You would do well to respect that, if not to avoid reflecting poorly on me than to avoid reflecting poorly on Queen Ingrith."
Not bothering to give the captain a chance to respond, she turned back to the group. "I ask that you forgive my...escorts. They are from Phillip's native kingdom, and tensions there are much higher with the Kingdom of the Moors and thus the concept of magic in general. However, they are still our closest allies, and considering my...father passed away a little over a week ago we are still working out the full details of how Phillip and my rule over this kingdom will work."
Riku could read between the lines and tell Aurora was in a bit of a difficult political situation and couldn't turn away men sent by her mother-in-law even if she dearly wished to. Anastasia seemed to pick up on it too—likely from her upbringing with a mother who had thrived on using any means necessary to climb the social and political ladder—and she seemed to immediately try to steer the conversation to a safer topic.
"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear about your loss." Seeing the guards still glaring at her, she went into a curtsy. "Also, forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Lady Anastasia Tremaine, sister to the Princess Cinderella of the Kingdom of Dreams."
Aurora curtsied back. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. And while I appreciate your sympathy, circumstances meant I never had a chance to have much of a relationship with my father. Add to that some of the details I recently learned about his reign as king and I'm sure we would have had quite the rift in our relationship regardless."
Riku saw Anastasia flinch slightly, and wondered if she was thinking of her own antagonistic relationship with her recently-fallen mother. Wanting to give her a little reprieve from the spotlight so she could compose herself before Richard and his flunkies metaphorically jumped on her, Riku decided to introduce himself as well. Since Aurora had mentioned briefing these soldiers and Anastasia had already mentioned her own world, he supposed he didn't need to worry about breaking the world order by mentioning details about himself.
"While Queen Aurora likely already knows me, I suppose introductions are in order just to make sure everyone is on the same page. My name is Riku, and I am a Keyblade Master from Destiny Islands." He saw the various looks the soldiers shot him that clearly questioned if the title of Master could belong to one so young, and knew that if they were barely taking him seriously they probably wouldn't be anything but hostile to Naminé claiming any sort of authority. He also saw she was shrinking a little bit as the men turned their gazes on her, so he decided to quickly get creative. If they seemed somewhat willing to take Anastasia seriously because of her title and connection to royalty, then he'd just have to do a little bit of twisting to provide that same respect to Naminé.
"Also, this is my protege, Naminé. She is the sole heir of Castle Oblivion." It was technically true—after all, Naminé had been the only Nobody to form within Castle Oblivion, and even if there had never been any political power affixed to the castle and the castle itself no longer existed after converting to the Land of Departure it wasn't like these random people needed to know that.
He could practically see some of the guards swallow back their ire now that they thought Naminé was something akin to a princess, but one of them started looking at her with a gleam in his eye that made Riku want to summon a Dark Firaga for some reason. It only took his mind a few seconds to catch on as the man—who had earlier introduced himself as Patrick—sent a smirk towards Naminé before he reached out, grabbed her hand, and kissed it.
"Forgive me, my lady. It must not be easy dealing with such a responsibility, especially for a girl on her own. If you ever find yourself needing any help, I would be happy to provide."
Naminé clearly was uncomfortable with the attention, and Riku could tell from Patrick's tone that he cared far more about the prospect of having his own castle than about Naminé herself. Riku barely stopped himself from growling, but he did grab the man by his shoulder—and infused his grip with enough darkness that the man's armor audibly cracked. Considering how he had defeated Roxas, he figured that was a good example of restraint, and it served to get a message across.
"I would appreciate it if we could remain professional for the duration of this mission. We can deal with other matters when we don't have to worry about keeping your queen safe while she negotiates with one of the greatest threats in the worlds." The lingering wisps of darkness that stubbornly clung to Patrick's shoulder served to emphasize the threat that darkness could pose, and Riku was under no illusions that he was anywhere close to Maleficent's level when it came to manipulating that particular element. The message certainly seemed to get across, as the guards huffed but returned to their positions around the wagon carrying a chest that seemed to be shaking slightly while Naminé shot him a grateful smile before taking up her own guard position as the group finally headed towards Maleficent's old mountain fortress. With that bit of unpleasantness behind them, Riku hoped things would be calm at least until they could finally make contact with Maleficent's forces.
Unfortunately for Riku's wishes, the group ended up making contact with Maleficent's forces far earlier than he wanted. The wagon had just turned the corner leading to the final stretch before the mountain pass when it practically ran over ten of her pig-like minions—with around thirty archers spread out in the rocks around them. It was a nearly perfect ambush—the only flaw was the dim-witted goons seemed as surprised as they were. By the time they had readied their weapons, Riku's group had been able to assume a defensive stance as well. Of course, that didn't really give them any headway. If he were on his own Riku knew he would be able to fight his way through—assuming he didn't just Dark Corridor away. To an experienced Keyblade Wielder, the goons were weak enough that they were more of an annoyance than an actual threat. In this number they could be dangerous, but he or Mickey would be able to win on their own.
Of course, this time they weren't on their own. While Naminé and to a lesser extent Anastasia would be assets in a fight, the same couldn't automatically be assumed of Aurora and her guards. The goons were spread out enough that it wouldn't be possible to eliminate them all at once, which meant there would be plenty of time for some survivors to get off a lucky shot. They might be able to circumvent that by placing a barrier around the weaker links, but Riku knew he wasn't able to project a barrier big enough to protect a group of people and he wasn't sure if Mickey alone would be able to do what he had when teamed up with Aqua and Xion against the Replica Xehanorts. Since the middle of a fight wasn't the best time to verify his friend's abilities, he'd need to think of a better plan at the moment.
The answer came in the form of a gravelly voice that snorted out, "What's going on?" Riku thought he recognized the voice, and when the speaker was revealed to be a bluish variation of the spear-wielding pig men his eyes briefly confirmed the identity of someone he had once met. Maleficent had often tried to create smarter minions, but only about one in a hundred ever got around to being able to actually understand and use human speech. These rare cases were geniuses among their species—and were still monumentally stupid in general. There was a reason they had spent eighteen years looking at newborns when trying to find Princess Aurora, and since Riku recognized the speaker, it was time to take advantage of that.
"Well, I'd say you have perfect timing, Neilock. I was just taking the Princess, these Keyblade Wielders, and these hangers-on to see Maleficent." The pig-man seemed startled at being addressed, and Riku could practically hear rusty gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out what was happening. Deciding to make things easier, Riku reached out for a weapon he hadn't touched since his Mark of Mastery exam and hadn't used in even longer. As Soul Eater sprang into his hand, Neilock's eyes finally lit up.
"Captain Riku? I didn't recognize you! You've changed since...uh...how long has it been?"
Riku decided not to bother with trying to spin any fancy lies. "Long enough that my mission to master powers of darkness has been successful. I thought it was time to return to this castle for a brief visit." If the beings that were all artificial magical creations still hadn't figured out that people aged, he wasn't going to bother explaining it. And if they assumed his increase in power over the past years was all something he had done on Maleficent's orders, well that wouldn't have been out of place considering how Maleficent had treated him on his brief stay on this world where she had created Soul Eater for him.
As expected, the pig-man immediately deferred to someone his mistress had once placed above the simple grunts of her army. "If you are going to the castle, I won't stop you. Carry on."
With that crisis averted, their group managed to make it through into the Forbidden Mountains before Riku heard the sound of a sword being drawn. He turned with a sigh to see Richard pointing his sword at him, and he could at least appreciate that the man had waited until they were out of danger before confronting him.
"You spoke with that creature as if you were a servant of Maleficent! How can we trust you not to lead us into a trap?"
Riku held up his arms in surrender. "I did what I thought was the best way of getting us out of that situation. There was a time a couple of years ago where I did work under Maleficent, but you have to remember that I'm not from this world. At the time, I had no idea who Maleficent was. Even when I figured out she was using me for her own interests, I was a stupid kid who thought it would be fine because I would get more out of it than she did. It ended badly, and I've spent all of my time since then working to atone for the damage I caused. But there was a brief period where I got introduced to Maleficent's goons, and they're stupid enough that they wouldn't bother to ask why I haven't been around for a couple of years and just assume I never left their side."
The guards still glared at him, but they at least put their weapons away after some prompting from Aurora. Riku had spent long enough beating himself up for his time working alongside the forces of evil that he no longer really cared about the opinions of strangers, but it was nice to know that he still had some support even outside his circle of closest friends. He made a note to thank Aurora for that a bit later, but he hadn't been lying to keep that guy off of Naminé earlier when he said it would be best to be professional until they finished this conversation with Maleficent's representative.
They didn't run into any further problems after their run-in with Neilock and his group until they ran into the locked gates of Maleficent's castle. Of course, a locked gate wasn't really that much of an obstacle when your party consisted of three Keyblade Wielders, but since this was a negotiation more than anything else it wouldn't be a good idea to start things off by breaking in. Of course, Maleficent didn't exactly leave any way for people to knock since she wasn't in the habit of entertaining guests, so they weren't sure on how to announce their presence. Luckily, the problem didn't last long as Riku heard a voice carrying over the battlements.
"What do you mean there are people approaching the gate? Anybody who should be coming to the castle knows to just portal in, and nobody else would be stupid enough to come to the castle, even if they could get through the gates…"
A large cat poked his head over the top of the wall, and while Riku had never met Pete in person he recognized him from Sora's encounters with the former resident of Disney Town. Of course, he didn't have that history, but his friend certainly did, with Mickey calling out, "Well, hi Captain Pete! Can we talk with you for a bit? We've got a message for Maleficent!"
Pete blubbered for a bit. "Wait, you're telling me the boat-boy King brought all these people with him just to talk? Whew, and here I thought you were storming the place. Not like I can really keep you out anyway, so we may as well…"
Before Pete could finish, a Dark Corridor opened alongside him and a raven flew out of it. If Riku had to guess, this was Maleficent's familiar Diablo, and when he transformed into the man who had gone by the name Diaval in his skirmishes with Kairi he knew he was correct. The newcomer took a glance at the group below him on the wall before turning to Pete.
"Well, it seems I owe you an apology. I thought your incompetence was the reason you sent out the distress call, but against this force it was well justified. Forgive me for doubting your loyalty."
Whereas Mickey had been nothing but jovial when addressing Pete, Riku noticed his friend's voice become far more threatening as he addressed Diablo. "You're the one running around and messing with the timeline on various worlds! I don't care if we need to talk to Maleficent, I'm not going to let you get away!"
Diablo scoffed. "Oh, I see how it is. When I do something to mess with how the worlds work, it's a grievous sin. But when someone authorized by Disney Kingdom does it, it's a cause for celebration. Forgive me, I suppose I should be singing your praises then. I know the perfect song." He cleared his throat before singing, "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah…"
Riku saw Mickey physically flinch back, and he knew it had nothing to do with the raven's less-than-stellar singing voice. "That song...how did you hear it?"
Diablo's smirk was audible. "What, did you think that my mistress's power was so limited I couldn't find the worlds you locked away? And maybe I can understand not wanting any of the cultural values of that particular world to spread beyond it, but can you honestly tell me every world you've locked away was worth it? Did Taran and Eilonway deserve to have their lives locked away just because you botched your handling of the Horned King?"
Riku could tell the revelation pained his friend, but Mickey steeled himself and continued on. "I know I've made a lot of mistakes, but that doesn't mean I can stand aside while somebody else repeats them!" He summoned his Keyblade and sensing the fight about to break out Riku brought Destiny's Embrace into a ready stance while he heard Naminé summon Way to the Dawn. However, before Mickey could spring forward Aurora shouted out, "THAT IS ENOUGH!"
Hearing the recently-crowned queen shout down a group of Keyblade wielders about to fight was enough of a shock that everyone stopped what they were doing, and Aurora made sure to press the advantage. "I specifically asked for you as extra help on a peaceful mission to establish communication with Maleficent. If you are going to violate my diplomatic mission, I shall have to construe it as an act of war and cut all ties between my kingdom and the forces of Disney and its allies."
Riku just about dropped his Keyblade at the declaration. Aurora had made it clear she was trying to avoid dragging her kingdom into a war by tolerating her current guards sent by her mother-in-law, and now she was practically declaring war on multiple other worlds? He quickly shot the queen a look, only to realize she didn't seem to have any doubts about the move. Either she was serious, or this was all a giant bluff and Riku was unable to read her poker face. Regardless of the truth of her words though, the statement gave Aurora exactly what she wanted as Mickey dismissed his Keyblade with a sigh while Diablo burst into raucous laughter.
"A Princess of Heart threatening to declare war on the Guardians of Light just to send a message? I admit, you had my curiosity before but now you have my rapt attention. In fact, I think I can do one better. Instead of passing your message along, I can let my mistress hear this directly!"
With that declaration, he sent a plume of dark energy into the sky, and a few seconds later Maleficent appeared on the battlements. However, since she had merely faded into existence, Riku could tell it was actually a projection instead of the witch herself. From his time following her, he knew she preferred to use Dark Corridors to travel between worlds while for travel within a world she was familiar with she preferred to teleport in with a flash of green fire. This was a technique she had used to communicate with others when she didn't feel like taking the time to travel physically to their location, but it still allowed her to hear and see what was happening even if her body was on a completely different world.
Since he had spent a decent amount of time with Maleficent, Riku could hear the fake charming smile in her voice as she projected it to their party. "Well, Diablo, you could have given me more information about who was meeting with us. I expected the lovely Princess Aurora, but having her backed up by His Majesty King Mickey? And do my eyes deceive me, or has our prodigal son returned to our castle?"
Riku couldn't stop himself from growling back, "Don't you dare act like you ever cared about me. I was just a pawn to you and too stupid to realize it."
Maleficent's voice didn't lose its playful tone. "Why Riku, I'm hurt. Surely you remember that you were trying to use me as well? You were just so desperate to save your little friend's heart, and I just tried to help you with that. Sure, I also got some benefit from the arrangement, but what's the harm in a mutually beneficial relationship?"
"Don't act like it was some equal exchange. Opening the door to Kingdom Hearts would have never gotten Kairi's heart back, so I was working to help your plan that could have never helped me."
Maleficent's voice gained a hard edge. "Yes, admittedly with what we know now that would have never worked. But there was no way for either of us to know that the Princess's heart had taken refuge within young Sora, and based on the information Ansem provided, opening Kingdom Hearts was the best way to retrieve any lost heart. The only issue was Ansem was using both of us, but that should be obvious considering he betrayed us both by possessing your body and stabbing me in the heart."
Riku wanted to keep arguing, but he couldn't fault Maleficent for being one of the more recent members in the giant club of people Xehanort had used on his quest for the Keyblade War. The fact that Maleficent was openly admitting to somebody managing to out-evil her was enough of a shock that it brought a lull to the conversation—until the twanging of a bowstring rang out and two arrows flew through Maleficent's body. As she was just a projected image, her response was a disappointed sigh.
"While I will give you credit for at least doing the bare minimum of bringing iron arrowheads, this assassination plan has so many holes. First, even getting hit with iron arrowheads in those locations would only be painful, not fatal. Second, if I was actually here, I would have been able to stop those from hitting me since you weren't exactly stealthy. Third, when you find yourself in the company of two Keyblade Masters who have a much higher chance of killing me than you ever could, why would you still stick with the original plan?"
The only response she got was a few more arrows that passed through her image and a couple that clanged on the stones near Pete and Diablo, who took a little bit more effort to protect themselves. Maleficent just continued in a bored tone.
"In some ways, it's refreshing to know that it's not just me who has to deal with so many incompetent minions. But I grow annoyed and you seem to think hiding behind the Princess's skirts will protect you." She raised her staff and shouted out, "Let me educate you on your folly!"
A wave of darkness rushed towards them, and Riku tried to raise his barrier to block it. However, he forgot he was using Destiny's Embrace currently instead of his own Braveheart, and Kairi's Keyblade naturally resisted his Dark Barrier. By the time he pushed through it and raised his shield, the darkness had already washed over him—although it was far gentler than he expected for an attack from Maleficent. Glancing around, he saw Mickey, Naminé, and Anastasia all looking confused with their Keyblades in a blocking position, and even Aurora seemed unsure after using a barrier of light against the weak attack. It was only after a few seconds that Riku realized that was now the entirety of their group, with the four additional guards disappearing.
Maleficent chuckled. "Well, Princess, I must admit I now understand why you felt the need to come to me now. I imagine in a few months you won't be able to convince anybody to let you take this journey, and I'm guessing you wanted to have this conversation before we could have any repeats of what happened at your christening."
Riku saw he wasn't the only one confused at the fairy's meaning, but Aurora only had a brief look of surprise before she smiled. "Well, I will admit I had suspicions, but I wasn't completely sure. How did you tell I was pregnant?"
Maleficent scoffed. "That last spell was designed to determine the extent of harm each person has towards me in their heart. His Majesty dearly wishes to stop me but is able to restrain himself, Riku has what seems to be a typical amount of hostility for someone who feels I betrayed them and is also able to stay his hand. The redhead is scared she'll have to fight, and the blonde with what looks like Riku's weapon is also afraid but willing to defend her friends. You are far more interesting. There's a bit of resentment buried behind...well, I think it might either be guilt or pity and I'm not sure which is more insufferable. However, there's also another heart growing within you that is nothing but pure innocence. Considering how desperate you seemed to be to talk to me and my actions at your own christening, it wasn't too hard to put things together. Of course, for the four imbeciles who were least likely to harm me yet determined to kill me, the spell took care of them directly."
Riku could see the conflicting emotions on Aurora's face. He imagined the confirmation of her pregnancy was cause for celebration, and personally she was probably happy to not have to deal with the four jerks, but losing them still was a blow to her tenuous political position. The newly-crowned queen only sighed. "I cannot fault you for attacking them since they did try to attack you first, but things will be much more difficult with Queen Ingrith now that her men died on my watch…"
Maleficent snorted. "Oh, so those buffoons belonged to Ingrith, did they? I should have expected she'd still continue her pointless attempts to dethrone me. Besides, you are assuming too much. I said the spell took care of them, not that I had killed them. They're just spending some quality time in the dungeons."
Aurora sighed in relief. "That will make things much easier. But I suppose I should get to the point of this meeting. I'm not sure if you are aware, but my father recently passed away. As such, I am now the queen, and with my ascension I have learned a great many things that were kept secret. I now know exactly how my father took the throne, and I was shown the trophy he kept from that action. I know returning them to you will do nothing to undo what has been done, but you should be the one who chooses what happens to them instead of letting them continue to be a locked away treasure of a corrupt king."
Riku wasn't sure what all of that meant, but judging by the feeling of darkness gathering around Maleficent the evil fairy did. Aurora then opened up the chest she had brought along on the journey, and revealed a giant pair of black wings—which disturbingly were still twitching despite being chained down. Maleficent kept her tone light as she responded, but Riku could sense she was a split second away from raining down meteors on their group.
"Oh, how disgustingly naive. What, did you think returning the wings your father stole from me would suddenly make me repent from all my evil actions and swear to the side of good? Even if your father was the one who pushed me to take the first steps on my path, do you really think I would continue walking it for the past thirty years if I didn't like where I was going?"
Aurora flinched back but when she responded her voice was just as firm. "Of course not. My father's transgressions would, if not justify, at least explain many of your actions against my kingdom. They wouldn't cover any of the things you have done to the inhabitants of other worlds or explain away your status as the Mistress of All Evil. But just because you are evil doesn't mean my father's actions against you are a form of justice. He tricked you and violated you, and if I cannot at least come before you and say he was wrong, then how can I justify continuing his family line?"
Maleficent seemed to ease up on her building darkness in surprise. "Oh, so that's what this is all about? Well, if nothing else, you certainly inherited some of his backbone. Why do you think I cursed you so you would fall into slumber on your sixteenth birthday? I know he would work himself into a frenzy over those years trying to spite me. Others would give up, but only someone as stubborn as your family would continue to make themselves suffer for over a decade. Add to that the bit about true love's kiss and it was the perfect trap."
Aurora jumped on the opening. "Yes, it was the perfect trap, and I was the bait. But as the victim, I'm the only one who has any say in whether or not to forgive you for your actions. Perhaps I'm not as rigid as my father, but I am not going to continue a blood feud just for the sake of what you did to me as a newborn. If it requires inviting you to every major event to keep peace, then we'll just have to set up a better means of communication than we currently have."
Maleficent chuckled. "Do you really think I would be so petty as to curse a literal baby just because I wasn't invited to a party? No, that was just a ruse to see if he would be willing to admit to wronging me. Had he done so, I might not even have cursed you at all—but I expected him to fail my test, which is why I waited until after you had received two blessings. I knew Merryweather would soften my curse to something that could be broken with true love's kiss—which is exactly what your father claimed to have given me before showing such a thing didn't exist."
Aurora sighed. "Well, on that we will just have to agree to disagree, considering I'm only awake thanks to Phillip breaking the curse."
Maleficent snorted. "To each their own, I suppose. But if you have nothing else to mention, I do have work I need to get back to. You needn't worry about me going after your child, even if they do inherit the power of the Princesses of Heart. If a single Keyblade Wielder was enough to disrupt my last plan for Kingdom Hearts, I would be exceptionally foolish to try it now that there are so many of them. I've got something much different in mind."
She started fading away, but stopped when Aurora called out. "Wait! I know my guards deserve time in the dungeon for attacking you, but if I say that you have them in custody it will only give Ingrith an excuse to press a war against you. Doubtless you would withstand anything she could throw at you, but I'd rather avoid the senseless death. Could you transfer them to my custody?"
Maleficent's image kept fading. "Do you really think I'd bother locking anybody up in the proximity of four Keyblade wielders? No, I teleported them into your own dungeons. That way, it would at least take a little bit of time before they can be freed, and I don't have to worry about the ensuing battle and property damage. Farewell, your highness."
With Maleficent gone, an awkward silence fell over the group until Pete finally couldn't take it any more. "So, uh, do you think she wants us to keep her wings or not?"
Diablo sighed. "I'm her familiar, not a mind reader. But they are a glorious pair of wings, and it's probably on the safer side to take them if she wants to get rid of them than to get rid of them if she wants us to take them."
Riku could tell that the last bit was added more as a cheap justification than anything else, and decided he really didn't want to know what was actually going through the raven's mind. Wanting to get away as quickly as possible, he raised his voice. "Well, it seems like our conversation is over. Thank you for bringing Maleficent in on this, and hopefully if we ever need to talk again we can do so peacefully."
Everyone else seemed to realize he was ending the conversation, and with only a quick round of goodbyes their group was finally heading back to Aurora's castle. After they had cleared through the mountain pass and entered the Waterway with no sign of troubles, Anastasia let out a massive sigh of relief.
"Okay, are all Keyblade missions going to be that nerve-wracking? I thought for sure we'd get into a fight, and even though we didn't that was way too much tension to deal with on a regular basis."
Mickey patted her on the arm. "Don't worry, you'll get better at dealing with it. You don't even want to know how much of a mess I was on my first outing." He turned to Aurora and took on a more somber tone. "And I wanted to thank you for stopping me there, Aurora. I was so close to just putting everything aside to stop Maleficent, but what right do I have to dictate everything on other worlds? If I had gone through with that, I'm not sure if I would have been able to stop. We just got rid of one Keyblade Master trying to dictate the course of the universe, and we really don't need another one…"
Riku sent a smile at his old friend. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Mickey. Unlike Xehanort, you actually have friends. Take it from someone with a bit of experience—all it takes is a good friend to pull you off of the wrong path and back onto the right one."
Aurora started laughing. "Well, it's a shame we haven't had anyone able to befriend Maleficent yet, but I'm glad we are able to at least have some peace for now. And I'm sorry that your first trip to our world was so stressful, but I can at least make that up for you. While my official coronation was a small affair due to the circumstances, we are planning on having a formal ball to celebrate the occasion. I'd be happy to have you all join."
Riku's mind immediately conjured the image of him twirling Naminé around on a dance floor, and while he knew he'd probably make a fool of himself it's not like he particularly cared about what a bunch of strangers from another world thought of him. Then again, Naminé could easily care, and he wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable. Besides, he might have loads of free time as a legal adult without official work, but Naminé still had school to think of.
He shot a glance at Naminé and wished he could know what she was thinking, but decided to speak up. "Thank you, your highness, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to stay much longer. We do need to get back home for tomorrow."
Aurora looked at him in confusion. "Tomorrow? Why would...oh, right. You might be able to gather everyone on your islands in that short amount of time, but my kingdom is probably quite a bit larger and certainly doesn't have as quick of forms of communication. The ball is a month off, and while I know time works differently between worlds I'm sure we can work something out to figure out what day that would be on your islands to see if you could make it."
Riku saw Naminé's eyes light up at the suggestion, and knew he had no choice. "Well, once we figure out the time issue then I'd be happy to accept. Although I'll probably need to take some dancing lessons just so I don't end up trying to do the completely wrong moves…"
Naminé sighed as she settled back against Riku in the Gummi Ship as they headed back towards the Kingdom of Dreams. Now that it wasn't sprung on her by surprise—and Mickey and Anastasia seemed to accept that the arrangement was going to happen again—she could just let herself enjoy the feeling. Here she was, able to cuddle up with Riku in a situation where there was a perfectly valid reason to do it. She certainly wouldn't be able to work up the courage to ask for this just because she wanted it, but if it was in the name of safety? She supposed she could endure the warmth of his body up against her as he wrapped his arms around her and made her feel completely safe and lov—
"Well, we should probably congratulate Even." If anybody asked her, the shudder that went through Naminé's body at Riku's whisper in her ear was due to surprise. Definitely only surprise. Or maybe confusion at what he meant, but that excuse disappeared as he continued to whisper into her ear and she couldn't help wiggling in a little closer to him. "I mean, Maleficent used a spell that was good enough to detect a human life before its mother even knew she was pregnant, yet your replica body didn't set anything off."
This time, Naminé didn't even have to make an excuse for the less-than-pleasant shudder passing through her body. Wanting to keep the conversation somewhat private, she turned her head towards Riku so their noses were almost touching and tried not to think about how close their lips were. "Please don't mention that. Even was a little...too excited about how good his work was. Let's just say Roxas, Xion, and I all got a much more thorough discussion of anatomy than what was covered in the school lessons Sora tried to repress. He was...a bit proud of how close he got everything to correct, although he did say he'd have to wait until we were a bit older to see if his work passed the ultimate test and could produce viable human offspring…"
Naminé could feel Riku shudder at that before he suddenly pulled her even closer. "Sorry you had to deal with that, but at least now you know you theoretically have the option to try. You ever think about whether you want kids?"
Naminé froze for a second before she started shifting around trying to convince the blood in her body to flow to anywhere other than her face. She had spent most of her earlier life just wishing she could be anything close to normal. And maybe in her wildest fantasies that included having a family with kids. But those kids certainly didn't include silver hair considering the only person her age she interacted with was now the one currently holding her tightly while being so warm and smelling so good and being so comfortable even if there was something poking into her…
OH.
OH.
Don'tpassoutdon'tpassoutdon'tpassout…
Needless to say, the fact that Naminé woke up to see a ceiling she vaguely recognized as the setting of her conversation with Riku where they kinda sorta acknowledged there might be something between them proved to her that she had failed to listen to her last semi-coherent thought on the Gummi Ship. As her mind flashed back to that last exchange, she felt her face heat up again and the room started to spin before Anastasia's voice gave her something else to focus on.
"I don't think you have to worry about anything. Riku obviously cares about you a lot, and Mickey had to practically drag him away so he'd stop hovering over you."
Naminé just groaned. "How can I not worry? I just...well...basically had a crazy freak out on him! What am I—"
Anastsia grabbed her shoulder before she could continue. "Listen, I get it. You probably feel like you messed up a chance at something good. But it's fine. Take it from someone with a ton of experience putting the notion of true love on a pedestal and never feeling like you are good enough to earn it. That's all a lie. Love will be an awkward mess, you'll screw up so many things, and it's not really any easier for anybody else. But everyone has a chance for it. As long as you're willing to communicate and figure things out at a pace that works for you, you'll have a shot. And if you ever need to talk with someone who's a bit disconnected from your usual friend group but has been in a similar situation, I'm always right here."
