Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts

Part 43

Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.

*Several days ago, at the Mysterious Tower*

Rubbing her face with a groan, Cindy shakes her head to knock off that slight pain throbbing in the back of her skull. 'Dadgum... Feels like I got hit by a truck', she groans. The blonde mechanic yawned and threw off the sheets that felt extremely cozy, maybe she remembered to change them this time.

Cindy runs a hand through her hair, shaking her head remembering that weird dream she had the other night. 'Maybe i shouldn't mess with no sodas next time I'm workin late, she says. Least she knew to a degree the ship was in a much more stable and usable shape. A shame she only dreamt about the flying the thing, but when it got weird with the mouse fellow, porcupine head and that kid who she mistook for Sora, maybe it was for the best.

'Well, better get to…it', she said, eyes opening wide when she saw she wasn't in her garage.

Instead of the rustic but homely place she knew she found herself in what looked to be an old study room with several shelves stacked with multi-colored books, the room was painted in a cream color with several star and crescent moon shaped holes in the walls for what she assumed to be windows…without glass. The carpet was light green with a table near the bed and three chairs. The bed itself wasn't any larger than hers back home but way more comfortable.

Cindy's eye twitched as she took in her surroundings before she started to giggle a tad bit insane. She slaps herself once, then twice before coming to the horrible realization she was not in Eos anymore. 'W-W-Where am I?', she asked herself, looking around for anyone. Questions piled up in her mind, how long had she been asleep, where was she, who were those guys, and why were they keeping her in this room? She checked herself to see she wasn't wearing her usual clothes either, just a large t-shirt with a pair of jeans.

'"If that porcupine thing stole my jacket or even looked at my under britches…Ima knock him flat on his ass…', she promised as she got up and found her boots beside her bed with a pair of clean socks. Throwing them on and checking herself, she was surprised to see she looked squeaky clean, not a single trace of oil on her cheeks, even her usually unruly hair looked cared for and cleaned. Cindy checked the room one more time before she approached the small wooden door before her, quietly opening it to see outside.

The hallway was dimly lit with strange moon shaped lights guiding those who walk the hall, several more doors on each side of her and at the very of the hall was a set of stairs when spiraled. Not a single soul in sight, nor did she see anything resembling security cameras or security in general. Cautiously she peered left and right before silently leaving her room and walk into the hall, moving slowly and as quietly as she could. Last thing she needs is to be spotted or worse.

She climbed down the flight of stairs until she came to another door with more space-related shapes on it. Cindy tries to open it, however, the door refused to budge. There was no keyhole or anything either, it could have been painted on the wall for all she knew. Cursing quietly, she backed up the stairs, taking the higher floors, maybe she could find something to help open that door.

Reaching the top, Cindy was about to proceed down another hallway that looked near-identical to the one she found herself in earlier except the hall glowed in a softer blue light when she hears steps and sloshing. Quickly she hides herself behind the wall near the doorway and peers to see who was patrolling the halls.

To her absolute disbelief, she sees several walking broomsticks with arms from their rod forms and using the bristles of their brushes as legs and feet. They were mostly marching along in perfect sync with buckets of water in each hand as they entered the rooms one by one while some were using their limbs to dust and clean the walls and windows. She shakes her head, unable to believe what was happening before her. 'On second thought, I'll just keep going up…', she muttered, done with the weirdness that was performed before her.

The mechanic climbs to another floor of wherever she was, maybe a tower or something, and found herself onto the next floor. Except it was more of an open space without another hallway, two doors nearby on each side. Cindy approached the blue door, getting closer she heard muffled voices on the other side, one squeaky and familiar to her. She pressed her ear against the wooden frame to get some clarity on what's being side on the other side, but it was just as muffled as when she stood from it.

She figured taking the other door would be her best option, Cindy quickly entered the other room when she saw the doorknob jingle and the voices growing louder and clearer. She snuck into the room quickly and closed the door gently, pressing her ear to the door frame to listen for the footsteps of whoever those people were. After a few seconds, she heard their voices fading away, she breathes a sigh. 'That was too close…', she says.

Cindy turned around and froze.

The Sora look-alike stood there while getting his shirt on, standing there with mouth agape with red coating his cheeks. She lets out a yell as did he, averting her eyes as he throws his shirt on quickly. 'Shit! Sorry! I-

Cindy never got a chance to finish her sentence because suddenly she was slammed into the wall by the door slamming into her. 'Ven! What's up? We heard you yell!', a voice called out. Cindy uttered a small groan of pain from the attack of the door. From the inch of what she could see, the mechanic sees that redhead again with the small mouse fella's ears near him, and this "Ven" kid went from embarrassed to white as a sheet. 'Ven?', the redhead asked.

'A-A-Axel, t-the door…', "Ven" squeaks, pointing at it.

"Axel" looked at the door, then pulled it from the wall and allowed Cindy to fall forward, losing consciousness. Least she landed on something soft…

*Sometime later*

Squinting her eyes and hissing in pain, Cindy cracked open her olive-green eyes to see the same ceiling she had awoken to before, just with even more pain in her head. With a small groan, she rubbed her head but flinched when she felt a rather large bump on her head. Truth be told she was amazed she didn't end up having her skull cracked open.

She turned her head to see "Ven" sitting at the table with what looked to be a puzzle box in his hands, his eyes were fixed on it with his tongue sticking out. He turned to her, likely hearing her groan, and placed his box on the table. 'Hey there, you ok?', he asked. Cindy slowly sat up with a grunt, rubbing her head. 'Besides what feels like i been hit upside the head more than Paw-Paw cusses? Just dandy …', she groans out.

'Who?', the boy asked, before shrugging and handing her a small green bottle. Cindy looked at it, feeling it looked like the potions back home with the only difference was the design of the bottle. 'Here, just drink this and you'll be fine', he promises. Cindy nods and takes it, uncorking it and taking a sip of it before downing the whole thing. Her body glowed in a gentle green hue before the pain disappeared. A breath of relief escapes her, handing the empty bottle back to "Ven". 'That better?', he asked.

'Yeah, thanks, Ven?', she says, curiously. 'My name's Ventus, but yeah, call me Ven', he introduces. Even his smile looked like Sora's. The woman looked at the boy while she threw her legs on the floor. 'Where am I?', she asked. The boy looked uncomfortable and rubbed his neck shyly like he was suddenly in a position he'd wanted out of. Cindy frowned at the silence before the door opened to show "Mickey" (if she remembered right) and "Axel" coming in.

'Oh, she's up already?', the redhead says, smirking at her.

His leg was nudged by the mouse man a bit roughly, a frown on his face. Likely reminding "Axel" she was out of commission because of him. Sheepishly scratching his head, the man chuckles awkwardly. "Mickey" turned to Cindy with a friendly smile. 'How are you feeling, miss?', he asked, her name unknown to him. 'Name's Cindy, Cindy Arum', she greets. 'And you're…Mickey, right?'. He nods, then points to "Axel", saying: 'This here is Axel'. He gives her a small salute, keeping that smirk of his.

'So, Cindy…gonna tell us why you were using Sora's ship?', Axel asked, folding his arms. The woman got up, waving off Ven's concerns and faced him. 'For your information bud he asked me to fix her up for him', she reveals, 'I damn near had it bout fixed 'fore it shot me up into space!'. 'And that's when I found you!', Ventus added, smiling like a child. 'Yeah…then I ended up, wherever I landed, then the rest is a big blur of nothing', Cindy says.

'You fainted, for starters', Axel teased. She glared at him, but he waved her off, likely used to his smartass attitude getting glares left and right. 'Then we had to bring here to patch you up, you've been out of it for a while', he says. Cindy frowns with worry, how long had she been unconscious, and just where was she anyway. 'Can one of ya'll tell me where the heck I am anyway?', she asked. 'This is a place called "Mysterious Tower"', Mickey revealed, 'This is our base where we'd gather up and plan'.

'…So, I accidentally found your HQ?', Cindy asked, baffled. 'Yup, and unfortunately we'll have to make sure you don't talk', Axel says evilly, giving her somewhat creepy smirk. He received another nudge from the mouse man, elbowing his knee. 'Axel, she's already confused don't frighten her!', he lectured. Axel rolled his eyes when Ventus turned to the woman. 'You sort've did, but where are the others?', he asked, 'Were there two girls with blue and red hair with Sora?', he asked. Recalling back to Hammerhead, Cindy remembered meeting those two with distinct hair colors certainly.

'Yeah, I remember them. They were with the kiddo with spiky hair', she explained. Ventus' smile grew wide, looking back at Mickey and Axel. 'See? I knew they found their way to Sora! Maybe Riku did as well!', he says with giddiness. Axel looked to Cindy and inquired about Riku, which the woman shook her head saying she didn't see anyone with silver hair. Regardless at least she told them where their friends were, but then the mouse man said she would need to explain where she was from along with Sora's location to their leader of sorts.

To say she was not ready to meet Yen Sid would have been a massive understatement.

In the tallest part of the tower in the highest room, she meets the original keyblade wielder in his chair, the boy and mouse man bowing respectfully while Axel just leaned against the door. This Yen Sid is a rather severe-looking old man with long, grey hair, bushy eyebrows, and a long, grey beard that parts down the middle. He wears a weird (and nearly silly) sorcerer's hat on his head. The hat is blue and decorated with several yellow stars and a yellow crescent moon. He wears long, billowing blue robes with sky blue lining, with the insides of his robes being dark red.

His glare to the woman almost spooked her and sent shivers down her spine, however she remained resolute when she explained what world she came from, what she knew about Sora's company and other things. When she said her world was called Eos, the old man raised a brow at her.

'Eos…that is a world I've not heard of for decades', he muses.

'You know that world?', Axel asked, raising a brow of his own, 'What's so special about it?'. The old man turned his focus to Cindy. 'Tell me, child, what do you know of Regis?', he asked. Cindy scratched her cheek before saying: 'W-Well, he's…passed away a while back'. At this info, the old man released a sigh. 'A pity, Regis had such a strong light within him. A good man taken too soon', he says.

'B-But, he's son, Prince Noctis, he's still kicking', she offered. Though why she did she couldn't explain, it was compulsion to remind people the future king was still around. Yen Sid stroked his beard thoughtfully, lowering his gaze to the table. 'Yes, a new light had shined recently. A chosen wielder of the keyblade has been born', he reveals. At this the trio of keyblade wielders looked at one another, Axel quietly muttering "jeez anyone can be a keyblade wielder these days". 'But how? Was he ever bequeathed the keyblade from somebody, Master?', Mickey asked.

'Very likely, your majesty', Yen Sid affirms, 'Who I do not know, but if he is journeying with Sora and the others, I believe we can assume it was one from the realm of light who granted him this power'. All this information went over the mechanic's head, completely at a loss to what was going on between the four. Truly all she cared about was finding a way back home and probably sneak into Paw-Paw's cabinet and drink herself until she forgot her name.

'So, what are we waiting for?', Ventus asked, looking at everyone, 'We know where they are, and Cindy can show us the way! Let's go and get them back!'. Yen Sid raised his hand to quell the boy, silencing his questions. 'Riku was sent to find them, Ventus. Yet he has not returned to us', he reminds, 'This is the second ship used to venture into Eos and be reduced to nothing but scrap. Further misuse of the vessels and we may end up with no keyblade wielders'.

Ventus' face fell to defeat while Axel huffs. 'So, what exactly do we do? If we can't enter the world how are we supposed to get Kairi and the others home?', questioned the former nobody. Cindy folds her arms, agreeing with the group that standing around wasn't the solution as Yen Sid looked to Mickey's pondering looks. He snapped his fingers with a smile. 'Then we'll just have to build a ship that can withstand whatever causes our ships to fall apart near Eos', he says.

'I fear this request may be out of your engineer's abilities, your majesty', Yen Sid remarked. 'Chip and Dale maybe, but lucky for us, we know someone who has what we need!', Mickey rebuked. He looked at Cindy. 'Looks like until we can find out way to Eos, you'll be sticking around for a while. Would you like to tag along?'. Cindy blinks before shrugging. 'Sure, if it means I get to see what kinda ship you've in mind', she says.

'Looks like we're going on a space trip…', Axel sighs as Ventus cheers for it. 'Hope you know how to use your ship, Mickey…'.

*Space*

After a horrible case of motion sickness slowly passing her, Cindy was relieved to know they could walk around the ship since the world they were going to was still a few hours away from their location. Once she managed to keep whatever lunch she had in her stomach where it belonged, she got to her feet and finally peered through the window to see the wonders of space.

There were so many stars it trumped the numbers she used to stargaze back home, strange clusters of rocks lazing in the space, colors of all kind. "Paw-Paw if only you could see this", she thought to herself as they flew through the cosmos. She feels a pat on her back and turned to see Axel handing her a suitcase. 'The old man's had a few friends design ya some new duds unless you wanna walk around the place we're heading to in your PJS', he teases. He gives her an eyeing before smirking. 'Not that I'd complain mind you'. Cindy rolls her eyes as she brushed past him. 'In your dreams, hedgehog', she says.

'Oh man I am looking forward to sleeping tonight', he calls out.

Inside her room, which was spacious all things considered how big the ship looked on the outside. Still, she is grateful that they gave her a room as she placed the suitcase on the bed and opened it up to see her new gear.

In the cockpit of the ship, Mickey was trying to communicate with the world they were visiting hoping to reach the man of the hour as soon as possible. Sitting on a chair while looking out the dome to pass the time, Ventus' mind wandered back to Aqua and the others, a small sigh leaving him. Ever since they learned Sora had been stranded on that world, a lot of the team were trying to wreck their minds on where he landed and Riku even attempted to organize a search party.

Sadly, the old geezer Yen Sid had declined, stating any further losses would be a devastating strike on their morale and chances of defeating Xehanort. The boy tried to sneak off himself to go looking for them, only for Aqua to immediately ground him and threaten to keep him out of the battle if he so much as stepped outside the tower. That would have been bad enough but then she threatened he'd be her sparring partner…

There wasn't enough healing magic in the universe to assure he'd survive that.

It got worse when Kairi snuck off with the Star Shard, both her and Aqua being zapped to that world by pure chance and luck he'd wager based on previous exposure to the thing. In less than a day they go from having nine guardians of light to only four, and then a day later they were down to three with Riku going off to look for them. When he didn't return, Yen Sid ordered the trio to wait out for them or until they discover more of the world they were on.

Now though they finally have a chance to find and bring them all back to the tower, ready themselves for the final battle.

Truly he did regret making Axel and Mickey worry when he went off on his own to just seek out where the team disappeared to. It was either his usual luck that he managed to find Cindy or fate that he would meet the woman and rescue her from the heartless.

'I hope the others are alright…', he says to no one in particular.

'Me too…but I'm positive they're all doing well!', Mickey pipes up with cheer, 'Sora's one of our best, and with Riku and Aqua, they'll be able to handle anything that world throws at them'. Ventus nodded with a smile as he adjusts himself in his seat while Axel finishes off that ice cream he just happened to carry. Ventus truly wondered how he was able to stay in such good shape since all he ever seemed to eat was that stuff.

'I'm more worried about Kairi…', he confesses, throwing the stick into the dust bin behind him, 'She's just got out of training with me and suddenly she's off doing light knows what'. Ventus grinned cheekily at the man's worried looks, which got him his attention before he scoffed. 'Shove it, kid', he grunts. Ventus lifts his hands in mock defense at the older man's look, snickering at the softie Axel had become. 'I didn't say a word!'.

'I'm sure Kairi's safe with Sora and Riku. But don't underestimate her, Axel', the king reassures, 'She's stronger than we think'. Axel slumped into his seat with a small huff. Not disagreeing with the king but still when he thought back to their training, he strongly believed he was no stronger than he was before he was chosen by the keyblade. If he didn't get that much stronger, he feared Kairi was no better than him. At least he had more experience than her, plus he managed to learn Form change after their training from watching Ventus.

They hear the elevator behind them ding and a clack of boots resonating. 'Hey Cindy, what do you think of your-

The boy's voice disappeared when he sees the woman in her new attire. Cindy is now wearing a black vest with the Hammerhead logo on her chest (likely inspired from her cap) that exposed her stomach with a brown leather jacket over herself, a pair of navy-blue tank shorts with her usual tool belt around her waist with long brown boots. The jacket's sleeves reached to her elbows, allowing her to wear her favorite gloves with her cap still resting on her head and her polished goggles.

'Hope they fit you', Mickey says, not taking his eyes off the controls. 'Fits like a glove, Mickey', she assures, smiling. Axel whistles in approval, turning to a scarlet faced Ventus who quickly readjusted himself to his seat and kept quiet about the change of wardrobe. "Poor kiddo," Axel thinks with a smirk, realizing that Cindy is a woman the kid was not used to dealing with. Hell, for all the redhead knew the most experiences the kid had with girls is exclusively with Aqua and judging by how bad his blush was when he looked at Cindy, he had a good gut feeling he was slowly starting to experience the horror of puberty.

'So where exactly are we all heading to?', Cindy asked, taking her seat in between Axel and Ventus, not noticing the boy's cherry face. 'There's a world with someone who knows a lot about gummi ships. He helped Sora and the others a few years ago when they got stuck', Mickey explained. At this Cindy grinned excitedly. 'Ya'll think I could ask him a few questions? Your buddy Donald promised me a blueprint if I fixed his ship!', Cindy says. 'Sure, so long as you keep yourself anonymous from other worlds', Mickey states.

They had already given the woman a rundown on the Order, the history of the worlds, why they possessed keyblades and why her leaving the world was a big deal. Granted Cindy somewhat blanked out most of the Order stuff and was more curious about the difference in cars and mechanic stuff from the other worlds. If the place they were going to is anything to go by judging by Axel said it would have changed in the last few years since he was there, then she is in for a treat.

'I'm kinda surprised you managed to figure out how the ship worked', Mickey praised, 'It took us years to understand it'. our friend gave a quick rundown on how it worked. The rest is just me makin sure it wouldnt blow up on me.', she explained as she got up and joined the king's side. He started to show her more of the machine worked, what the buttons do and how they were able to memorize them.

Behind the two, Axel moved his chair using the remotes on the seat closer to a still blushing Ventus with a crap-eating grin. He gently nudged the boy's arm. 'So kiddo, what do ya think of Cindy's new duds?', he teases, 'I kinda wish Aqua would take a page out of her book if you know what I mean~'.

Ventus groaned quietly and slammed his hands to his ears. 'Axel!', he harshly whispered, 'Aqua's like my sister! PLEASE don't put those thoughts into my head!'. Axel snickers evilly before he gestures Cindy bending forward to look at the controls, giving the two a good view of her rear. This made Ventus turned even redder as he couldn't look away from her hindquarters, which only makes Axel laugh before he slides away from the boy. Ventus quickly spun his chair around to his controls and just stared at the several blinking lights to hopefully distract him from all this.

Finally, they came up to the world they were looking for, orbiting it before the king made the ship descend close enough him to use the warp device on board. Next thing Cindy knew she was trapped in a circle of light before the world around her went bright.

*New World*

Rubbing her eyes, the mechanic opens them to see the world she found herself in. No more surrounded by the cockpit's controls and buttons, she found herself in a square with a large fountain before her. Cindy sees herself in a city of sorts unlike Lestallum, the world felt older, almost like a fairy tale.

On the sides of the path leading into the city were flower beds decorated with the most colorful of flowers, red, white, blue and yellow just to name a few. The stones were bluish-colored with pink here and there, even the skies above looked to be in a permanent state of pinkish, like the sun is forever setting. The fountain made of stone with a violet plague on the face of it with odd wording she couldn't read.

Axel patted her shoulder with a smirk and gestured the town. 'Welcome to Radiant Garden', he explains with enthusiasm of a child, 'Home sweet home!'. Cindy lets her jaw fall at the majesty of the city, unable to believe how grand and how, well, otherworldly this place felt compared to the stories Paw-Paw told her of the Crown City. Here genuinely reminded her of those old tales from eons ago, the kind where magic was more common and probably centuries behind in technology. Now her curiosity for whoever this person who could help them became genuine excitement for her.

Ventus stepped forward to look at the city with a small smile before he folds his arms. 'Man…this place looks so different…', he says. Mickey stepped beside him with a friendly smile gesturing the town. 'Believe it or not, it used to look like a construction site, but after the town remembered their old name they've been pushing forward with the restoration', he explained. 'Not to mention without any powerful leaders of the dark residing in this world, there have been very few heartless stalking around the city'.

Ventus looked back to the city as the king walked on, saying: 'Welp, we better get going and see if we can find the person we're looking for'. Ventus nodded and jogged on to follow the king with Cindy and Axel journeyed with them behind. In the town square, the woman of Eos took in the world around her. Like she had thought it was nothing like back at home, there were so many people in strange and casual looking clothing that made her feel like she was strolling through a park.

Several kids playing in the streets with their friends, shoppers, and townsfolk populating the streets, a sense of peace reigned over the town. She sees a castle in the distance with a large golden gate with two guards wielding spears and glaives of sorts. It somehow reminded her of the Crownsguard in a way, just not as menacing looking as them.

During their walk, Axel was going on about how larger and more populated the town felt, saying a lot of changes must have occurred when he was gone. He kept pointing out a few things to the girl like the new shops, the townsfolk he knew and even said something on the lines of "Even the moogles have extended their stores". It surprised the woman that the mythical creatures like the moogles had explored space as well.

She swore if she heard there were also cactuars here something is gonna snap.

Making their way to the shopping districts as the king explained where they're going was passed here, Cindy was surprised that they weren't hold up by anybody nor did they get any weird looks by the locals, were they used to other worlders visiting this place? The blonde turned to Ventus talking to Axel about the world, making a few jokes here and there about the stores and what to pick up for later.

'Sora!'.

Cindy jumped suddenly when suddenly Ventus was enveloped into a tight hug by a raven-haired woman, earning a yell of surprise from Axel. She held the surprised boy tightly, the poor young man frozen stiff as she said: 'Long time no see! Where've you been?'. She must wonder why he wasn't hugging back or why he said nothing because she loosened her hug to face the boy now sporting a hue of pink.

'Wait…oh…shoot, wrong guy!', she laughed, letting go of him. 'Sorry about that, you had that "Sora smile" on you and I thought…ya know'. The girl before them was likely the same age as Axel, has short, black hair and wears a metal headband with two green tassels. Wearing an unzipped, dark grey combat vest with a black strap dangling from the right pocket overtop a navy-blue tank top with white floral designs, while wearing a white wristband on her right wrist and a grey, fingerless glove on her left arm.

Her shorts are slightly darker and have another black strap dangling from the left side. She also wears black, over-the-knee socks with white stripes at the top underneath dark tan sneaker boots that are knee-high in length. Scratching her head with a sheepish smile, she turned to Mickey with a friendly smile. 'Been a while since I saw you here, Mick', he greets. Mickey smiles back with a friendly wave, 'Its been a while Yuffie', he greets. The girl known as Yuffie looked at the trio of new faces, the boy still blushing.

'So, are you three friends of Sora's or is he a distant cousin of his?', Yuffie asked. 'I-I'm Ventus…', the boy says shyly, looking away from the beauty while Axel snickers. 'Name's Axel, I'm kinda a friend of his', he introduces, then points to his head, 'Got it memorized?'. Yuffie smirks at him and nods, before turning to Cindy. 'And you?', she asked. 'I'm Cindy, a mechanic', she introduces, smiling and shaking Yuffie's hand. She somehow reminded her of Prompto, full of energy. The girl opened her mouth to speak before another voice called her name.

They all turned to see a man jogging towards her, looking playfully annoyed by the girl. 'Thanks for abandoning me!', he said with a huff, 'You nearly dropped the flowers and ruined the bouquet!'. The man looked at the party with surprise, but when he saw Ventus, his smile broadened into a grin. 'Ventus? Is that you?', he asked, approaching him. Ventus blinked at him before his eyes widened with recognition.

'Zack?', he says with a smile.

'There ya go!', he laughed. He wears a dark blue "SOLDIER" uniform with the gloves and boots, but they looked much more pristine and refined than his old uniform. Strapped on his back was a massive buster sword almost as wide as the man himself, he has an X-shaped scar on his cheek, and he let his spiky hair grew out and becomes wilder with a single lock of hair hanging down in front of his face. There is also a silver earring in his left ear.

He gave the boy a brotherly hug and playfully ruffled his hair, 'Damn bud, you've barely aged a day last time I saw ya!', he laughed. Ventus laughs in response to the jest, grinning back up at him. 'Where've you been all these years?', he asked. Ventus chuckled weakly and rubbed his cheek, remembering he spent those years in a coma. 'I… was pretty much out on my own for a while, ran into some trouble here and there but, yeah…', he said lamely.

Zack chuckles at the excuse, not buying it but not commenting either. 'Ah well, you're here now, right? It's great to see you again!'. He turned to the others as introductions were made and the reason why they were here was revealed. 'Of course, that goofball can't go anywhere without needing help', Yuffie teased playfully, 'Figures you came here for the best'. 'So do you think your friend can help us out? Whatever's causing the ships to go nuts is making it impossible to traverse to that world', Axel says.

'I'm sure we can work something out', Zack nods, 'Let's go see the big man himself'. Before they left, however, Zack caught Yuffie's collar. ' "WE" will go, "you" on the other hand', he says with a smirk, 'Have a delivery to make'. Yuffie lets out a whine but before she could protest, Zack crossed his arm and glared at her. 'You wanna explain to Aerith why her flowers were ruined?', he asked, 'AND be anywhere near her when she finds out who's to blame?'. Yuffie opens her mouth to further persist before gulping and nodding. She gave everyone a small wave of defeat before skipping off to do her job…and hopefully, see tomorrow.

Leading the group of visitors through the town, Zack was catching with Ventus about the development of the city. Since the town recalled the old name pretty much all the history behind it was found by the Restoration Community, and more so because of the former apprentices of the man who once ruled over this world had returned. Regarding the heartless, he admitted they still stalk the city despite them being lesser than the years before. He says they aren't sure who's leading them but for the most part baring a few skirmishes, the only heartless that are prowling in the city were shadows and soldiers.

Beyond them, they haven't seen any nobodies or any of the other monsters that used to pop up in the city.

'With the monsters being so scarce these days, we've had a lot of time to focus on repairing the city', Zack explained, waving to the locals who passed them by. 'And gonna go on a limb here and say you're one of the reasons they're not fighting for space here?', Axel says.

'Me and a few others', Zack answers with a smile, 'Leon put together the "Exterminator Squad" a few months back, I'm only one of the captains'.

As he said this, there was a scream of terror to their left. 'Speaking of which…', Zack grunts, grabbing his buster blade, 'Time to go to work!'. He rushed off ahead, followed closely by the four.

They found themselves in a marketplace as the people ran past them, some even shouting "monsters" while parents escorted their kids to safety. Ahead of the party, there was a small gang of heartless soldiers, book masters, armored soldiers, and surveillance robots. The armored soldiers were striking at most of the market stands with the surveillance robots flying into the air and firing lasers at the people fleeing.

'Looks like we've got a bunch of party crashers', Zack grunts, drawing his buster sword, 'Time to kick them out!'.

Zack runs into the heartless, to Cindy's surprise, swinging that humungous sword around like he was using a stick. The sheer speed of his swings is inhuman, he cuts his way through the heartless as if they were made of wet paper. He leaps into the air and strikes at the surveillance heartless, deflecting their lasers and slicing them in two.

He front flips onto a soldier's chest and stomped on it, slamming it onto its back. Zack spins around while having both hands on the sword, striking at them all while creating a small whirlwind that was powerful enough to throw them all into the air while spinning. Zack then jumped into the air like a human bullet, striking at the heartless until he reached another surveillance robot. It fires more lasers at him, all deflected easily by the giant blade and then he grabbed it and flung it back down to the ground.

A book master fired three balls of fire at the SOLDIER, but Zack brings his sword down onto the spheres and splits them in two perfectly. The force of his strike sent a shockwave into the heartless which fell to his superior strength, breaking apart before fading into darkness once more. Landing on his feet, the SOLDIER turned onto the heartless that were gathering before him, yet he just smiles playfully.

More heartless begin to appear in front of him, more armored soldiers and some large bodies to add to the prowess of the dark. Zack rolled his eyes as he readies himself for more, only for a wall of fire to suddenly sprout beneath the feet of the heartless and consume most of the fragile ones like the book masters and surveillance robots, even a few soldiers. He looked behind him to see Axel spinning his weapon while striking down a soldier and sidestepping an armored soldier. He smirked at the SOLDIER after sweeping his keyblade and severing the soldier's head.

Mickey was already in the air striking at the book masters and surveillance robots, striking them all down with one hit each. He used many of them as steppingstones while jumping at impressive distances and heights, even coordinating himself to never lose track of the enemy and keep himself from harm.

Below on the field near Cindy, Ventus was fighting off soldiers on his own and even keeping his ground. Unlike his friends, he held his keyblade in a reverse grip, but more so to Cindy's surprise, he wielded his weapon quite well despite the difficulty of the style, attacking the heartless with ease and parrying they're well thought and timed attacks without so much as a hint of a struggle. His body glowed in a soft greenish light as he struck at the heartless.

The way he practically flew in the air as he struck resembled a mini hurricane of strikes, and when he flipped in the air, his keyblade's tip touched the ground. With a yell, he swings it upwards creating five slash marks of light on the ground the splits the heartless in front of him to nothing. He backflips in front of Cindy, freehand up to keep her distance from the heartless that prowled in front of him. Luckily the foolish creatures were fixed on the threat in front of them they never thought to look behind themselves.

Axel stood behind them and swung his keyblade, emitting flames and leaving a trail of magical fire behind his sweeps, incinerating the heartless. The older man turned to the boy and grunts. 'Move!', he shouted. Looking behind them, they see a metal troll looming over them, brandishing its massive weapon. Ventus gabbed Cindy's arm and tugged her along to get away while Axel's keyblade was slowly encased in fire. He splits his weapon into two wheels of flames that he spins using his fingers, before outstretching his arms like a T as the flames disappeared and revealed his choice of arms.

His old but very reliable chakrams. He spun them in his hand before chucking them both at the troll's round face. The burning wheels struck between the eyes of it and the other managed to lodged in between the shoulders, bursting into flames while spinning into it. The chakram managed to spin like a saw and slice through the shoulder all the way through, rendering the metallic limb useless as it brought the axe down on Axel.

Zack quickly stepped in and swung his buster sword at the weapon of the heartless, deflecting it and leaving the monster wide open. He grabbed the blade with both hands as he started to glow in a faint white light, before dashing forth and unleashing multiple chain slashes on it, striking it six times before he brought his sword down for the seventh and final strike.

The heartless' metallic body began to fall apart before it collapsed into nothing.

Mickey combines his amazing acrobatic jumps and flips while striking the heartless with his keyblade and magic, firing off high-level spells of light at the horde, widdling them down while Ventus strikes at the heartless to finish them off. Watching all this unfold before her, Cindy yelled out to the party that ANOTHER iron troll was making its way towards them. Its massive feet crushed the stalls of the marketplace while swinging its giant axe to clear the path for itself. Axel lets out a groan. 'Another one? Gimme a break…', he groans. 'What? Done already? We just got started!', Zack teases while mock punching him in the shoulder.

Before the redhead could make a witty taunt, someone rushed past the two warriors like a blur and the force of the movement nearly knocked Axel off his feet. They both looked to see a woman dressed in black running to the troll, boots clacking loudly as she leaped into the air pulling her right fist backward, glowing with blue light. With a yell, the woman punched the heartless right in the face, not only breaking the armor apart but she also sent it flying across the marketplace before crashing into a building and disappearing into nothing.

Punching her fists together, the woman turned to the others cleaning up the remaining heartless, a gobsmacked Axel and a bemused Zack addressing her. 'Looks like I got here a bit late', she sighed, looking at the chaos they wrought. Zack however just shrugged with a grin. 'Sure, but hey no one lost their heart. I'd consider that a win!', he said with a smile as the rest joined his side. 'Sides, I had some help!'.

The woman looked to them before her eyes fell to Ventus. She grins happily and immediately wrapped in him into a hug. 'Sora! Long-time no see!', she greets. If Ventus turned bright red when Yuffie hugged him, then his cheeks perfectly resembled a tomato with his face being buried into the woman's bust. Behind him, he heard Axel snickering profusely while Cindy and Mickey watch on in amusement.

Zack held back his laughter as he patted the woman's shoulder. 'Uh, Tifa? That's not Sora…trust me Yuffie made that mistake earlier', he explained. Tifa blinked and loosened her hug to get a better look at Ventus before her cheeks turned pink and she released the still shocked boy. 'Oh my! Sorry about that!', she said awkwardly.

Tifa has long, roughly waist-length, brown hair that is tucked behind her ear on the left side, showing that she has a silver, teardrop-shaped earring. Eyes are rust-colored and she appears to wear pink lipstick (at least Cindy thought so). Wearing a black, leather tank top with a zipper down the front overtop a slightly longer, white tank top. Also, she wears a black, leather skort with two black ribbons tied on either leg. The back of her skort is quite long and reaches the floor. She also wears black, leather gloves and black and white shoes, with black ribbons tied around each.

'Jeez Ven, out in the big world and already you've had TWO girls hug ya!', Axel teased, making the poor boy even redder than humanly possible. Cindy giggled quietly at this, not exactly enjoying the poor lad's discomfort but he acted so shyly around women. Tifa gave the red-haired man a look before she turned back to Ventus. She ruffled his hair, giggling at how shy he is. 'Sorry again, you look a lot like an old friend of mine', she explained.

Ventus made a small squeak like noise, not trusting his voice for fear he may sound like a mouse again. Tifa looked to Zack. 'So, what's up? Thought you were on flower duty?', she asked. 'I was, but they wanted to see someone about a ship issue', Zack explained. 'What about you?'. Tifa frowned while crossing her arms. 'Leon's been having me and the other captains checking practically EVERY perimeter of the town walls', she explained, 'He's worried about the increase of heartless activity'.

Zack's own eyes turned serious as did the others. 'What do you mean?', he asked. 'Recently there's been sightings of them left and right, but they're just nosing around the place. Like they were looking for something', Tifa says, 'But oddly they haven't done anything either'.

'Maybe they're looking for intel? Gathering information about the town's defenses?', Axel offered, remembering his missions he had from the Organization. 'That's what Leon's saying, but they're going to weird places like the Bailey, the town square and even by the fountains', Tifa says, 'So unless they're sightseeing there's nothing there for them'. She waved her hand with a shrug. 'Maybe he's just overthinking, ya know how Leon gets'. 'Don't I know it!', Zack laughed. They bid the woman a farewell as she starts organizing the repairs for the market, allowing Cindy and the gang to continue with their tasks.

*Castle*

Arriving at the castle, to up-close makes the mechanic feel smaller and more like she was taking a step into a fairy tale the longer she remained here, they entered the office of the "mayor" of the city. In the old room were once belonged to a man known for his wisdom, cleaned and more orderly than the last time Sora was here.

Shelves stacked with the town's lore and history, portraits restored to show off the council of the community, the smell of tea tickled Cindy's nose. With a curving desk before them and in his leather seat was the mayor, Leon.

Light shade brown and short hair with bangs swept to the left side of his face, blue eyes with a very distinctive scar that runs diagonally across the bridge of his nose. He wears three brown belts on his left forearm and has three buckles on his right thigh. Black pants also sport a vertical zipper going down the side of each leg. He is also wearing two brown belts and two black ones around his hips, all of which are quite loose except for one, a black one worn properly around his waist. His eyes are blue, and he bears his distinctive scar, which runs diagonally across the bridge of his nose.

He looked up to the visitors, before standing up to greet them. 'Your majesty', he greets, his voice friendly but tough, almost reminding the woman of Gladiolus. Mickey smiles back at him with a wave while the two keyblade wielders smile in a friendly manner. 'Been a while Leon', he greets as the man approached them. He nods but frowned when he looked at Cindy. 'Who's this?', he says.

'A bit of a long story there…see, Sora and the others are trapped in another world', Mickey explained, 'Cindy here managed to repair their ship but accidentally launched it into space'. Leon looked at him before back to Cindy. She steps forward. 'Long story short, sugar, if ya'll want your friends to get off the world I came from, we need a ship', she says. Leon crossed his arm before nodding. 'I'd like to ask more but knowing Sora I'm guessing it's not as simple as just handing over a new ship and picking him up, right?'.

'Hey, it sounds like you're used to Sora being Sora', Axel praises.

'LEON! Where the hell is that god damn engine, I ordered an hour ago!?', a gruff voice yells from another room. Leon rolled his eyes with a sigh. 'Looks like you're about to meet the guy you're looking for sooner than you thought', he says turning to the door where the voice came from.

The door suddenly kicked open, miraculously still attached to the hinges as a man stormed out with cigarette unlit in his mouth and an old engine underneath his right arm. The angry man wears a light blue T-shirt with dark green cargo pants also wearing a brown bomber jacket tied around his waist and a dog tag around his neck. On his head were goggles, he had short blond hair with blue eyes and a faint stubble. Seemingly ignoring the team of visitors, he turned to mayor.

'Ya want me to fix this piece of junk but that pin headed excuse for engineers don't know the difference between a sodding wrench and ratchet!', he ranted, slamming the device onto the desk rudely. Leon was used to this type of angry outburst turned to the man with a blank look. 'If you didn't scare off the only ones with some degree of knowledge of engineering, we wouldn't have this problem', he remarks.

'You're asking me to build ships fit for space traveling sonny boy! And you give me pinheads who have a better chance of blowing up this castle just by touching the engines!', the blond man argued back. Unaware of the group and being too busy ranting, Cindy took this chance to look over the engine and after some careful searches, she sees a few nicks and knacks within it. While he was busying himself by arguing with Leon, the man stops when he hears the perfect purrs of an engine running smooth a butter.

He turned to see Cindy clapping her hands after putting her tools away with a smile. 'Just saw a few problems with it, and after a screw tightening and some adjustments, I've got your baby purring like a baby kitten', she says with pride. The blond man looked at the engine, before forming a massive smile. 'Hot damn! Leon ya found an engineer who knows what she's doing!', he praised, rage forgotten.

He shook her hand profusely, 'Tell me kiddo, what's your name? And who taught ya?', he asked. 'Cindy…', she says. The man's face shifted into confusion before he rubbed his chin. 'Cindy…Aurum?', he probed.

The woman's face went from smiling proudly to concern. 'Yes…?', she answered slowly. Then the man hummed. 'As in, Cid's Cindy Aurum?', he added. 'You…know Paw-Paw?', she asked, shocked. The man laughed, slapping his knee. 'HA! I knew ya looked familiar! How's that old grouch doing? He still going about that old man Reggie?', he asked. Cindy looked to the others, just as confused and surprised as she is.

'Well, little lady let me introduce myself! Name's Cid Highwind!', he greeted with a grin.

And just when Cindy didn't think this journey could get any stranger…

A/N: …yes, we're doing this.

So, first off, massive thanks to VashTheStampede0409 for helping with Cindy's dialogue! They've been a great help to shape and polish up this story!

This is part one of Cindy's little adventure, and I know some of you wanna focus more on Kairi and company, but I think Axel and the others need a little love to. Plus, for god sake I missed the FF characters ok!? So next time we'll see more of them, whose ruling the heartless now and who knows? We may even see Pete and Maleficent!

As always if you got questions, I've answers (maybe depending on spoilers) but here's mine!

Q1: What did you think of the chapter?

Q2: Who do want to see more of next time?

Q3: Whose your favourite FF character?

Q4: Do you wanna see more action in the next chapter or character?

Q5: Are there any FF characters you feel like should be added in the story?

Q6: Has anyone played Crisis Core?

Q7: Would you like an Episode Noctis and Sora in the future?

Q8: What do you think of Cindy in this chapter?

Q9: What did you think of Ventus' reactions to the girls?

Q10: Are you sick of my questions?

As always, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!