Those That Count on Us
Riku had woken up into the realm between Sleeping Worlds feeling better. True to his word, and better equipped, he had returned to prior visited Sleeping Worlds to check for Secret Portals. And they each had one: a Wargoyle in a Secret Portal in front of the cathedral in La Cité des Cloches; a Char Clawbster in the Bowels of Monstro on Prankster's Paradise; and, Commantis near the Portal on the Grid.
With Ultima Weapon Keyblade the fights were much easier, along with Slow and Curaga spells- especially against Commantis. With each fight he had gotten stronger, and unlocked more Attacks and Magic spells. He had even learned some Dark skills that had helped out a lot. Though he was a little uneasy about using darkness based attacks, but they really had come in handy. And as long as he didn't give into the power of darkness, it should be fine.
Riku even acquired a new Dream Eater recipe when he entered the Nave in La Cité des Cloches after his fight with Wargoyle. He could Sense a strong presence inside the cathedral. A Dream Eater by the name of Lord Kyroo challenged Riku to a fight. He had just gotten out of hard fight with Wargoyle but he was up for another combat session.
Upon accepting the challenge, Lord Kyroo faced off against Riku with his army of Chef Kyroos and Sir Kyroos. Riku could Sense the Sleeping World's Heart telling him that he was running out of time before Lord Kyroo would retreat. Refusing to lose the challenge, Riku started to Thunder Dash around the underlings as he went after Lord Kyroo with his Ultima Weapon Keyblade until he was victorious. His reward for his tireless effort was a Lord Kyroo recipe, a Dream Eater that after battling Riku knew would be a powerful ally.
Riku was much stronger now, more confident in himself. With everything he could get and learn from the visited Sleeping Worlds that he could, Riku moved on to the next new world. Diving down with his new Lord Kyroo Spirit and Peepsta Hoo into the new Sleeping World with a castle, Riku was ready. His Flowbermeow following along as a passive Spirit.
The Dive down was one of the more interesting ones so far. It felt like he was diving down from the center of a whirlwind of comic strips. He recognized Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in the comic panels, but was surprised to see Sora in some of them. Perhaps Sora had already arrived on this world. Then it was about time for Riku to catch up with Sora. He wouldn't want to be the one that fell behind this time.
But as he was diving down a Brawlamari showed up. It looked likely a colorful, bladed squid- a giant one at that. It sucked rocks from the realm between worlds behind Riku to throw at him, causing Riku to timely evade them as they continued the dive down. The Brawlamari was opening for a Barrier attack, which Riku had taken advantage of by moving in and attacking the flashing dots- or bulges- on top of its head. Upon a cycle of dodging it blade attacks and evading its throwing rocks, Riku had finally destroyed the two flashing dots.
Riku thought that the fight was over, but it would seem his assumptions were wrong. After seeming to be defeated in a elongated pause, the Brawlamari changed into a second form. Only revealing its new weak spots for a second when it opened its mouth area before firing its cannons at Riku. He tried his best to evade the destructive charge of energy but the Brawlamari's movement was too fast. Luckily, some falling rocks added great cover for Riku as they took the brunt of the cannons. Leaving the Brawlamari's weak spots open, as it cooled down, for Riku to strike. Riku rotated between flashing spots through the four flashing dots, striking equally between each cannon fire so that he could destroy them all simultaneously. Finally defeating the Brawlamari for good and reaping the rewards. With the way down no longer blocked, Riku continued the dive unhindered.
Upon dropping down, he found himself in front of the castle gate. No, it was more likely an opera house than a castle, based off the music coming from inside. It was nightfall and the gates were unguarded and open. A bad security practice for the ones running this opera house. Either this place had terrible security, or something was up.
"Hm?" Even more suspicious was the shady guy looking around like he was doing something he shouldn't and didn't want to get caught. And upon closer inspection, he looked an awful lot like Pete. Although, slightly different from the guy he remembered. He had a peg leg, a goatee mustache, and wore a crown. The Pete that Riku knew still had two legs, but his Sense told him that their Hearts were the same. "Isn't that...Pete? What kind of world did I end up in this time?"
Country of the Musketeers
"Well, one thing's for sure- that guy adds up to trouble in any world." Riku had decided to himself to ask questions later. This world would reveal the answers to him in time anyway. For now he had to make sure that Pete wasn't up to anything.
Before following after Pete, he explored the front garden, finding item chests and fighting Nightmares along the way. Riku even discovered a Selphie's Link Portal along the pathway to the opera house. The battle portal felt like he was fighting dodo birds, finishing them off in under 20 seconds as the Dream Eaters scattered about.
The Reality Shift on this Sleeping World was just as unique as its Dive Drop into it. Riku could hardly comprehend the feeling of turning into a comic panel skit as he attacked the Nightmares with Reality Shift: Wonder Comic. He had felt Goofy wildly swinging him around to whack the Nightmares, but at the same time wasn't moving at all. Let alone watching Donald jack-in-a-box the Nightmares with a boxing glove; striking the enemy with a forward thrust with Mickey: or, when the four of them attacked together, yet not moving on the panel. It was a strange feeling, even more so seeing all three of them in a Musketeer outfit. It was giving Riku the feeling he had heard something about this before.
Following after Pete down the entrance hallway, Riku was halted along the path by a few more item chests and another Link Portalby the elegant stairway. This portal was a lot tougher than the ones he had faced before. Locke's battle portal took a little more out of Riku, but at least another heart wouldn't suffer from its nightmares. Nightmares blocked his path along the stairway, but it did provided Riku a moment to properly explore the place. It was a nice opera house- he got a feeling that his mother would love it here- too bad there was probably trouble brewing behind these walls.
There were a couple of stairway Floors and corridors that were ribbon off from the public. Making Riku curious but not enough to disrespect the rules of this world's establishment. Besides, he could Sense that Pete did not take any of those paths. So he grabbed the item chests along the way and moved on. At least he had found a Special Portal while he was exploring the downstairs right passageway. The reward after fighting three Aura Lions was their recipe, so it was worth it.
Following after Pete had lead him down a dark pathway from the more public accessed stairway entrance to a door took him directly on to the stage.
"What's all this for?" Riku looked around at the stage setting as the audience hall remained unlit as the showing was still under prep. The stage background had massive waves around an armed ship caught in stormy waters. "Hm- (Gasp)!"
Riku saw someone coming. Running back towards where he came from, he took cover behind the red curtain as three beagles came on to the stage. They were dressed like highway robbers and carrying wooden cutouts that looked like Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
"Is that supposed to be Mickey and the others?" Riku thought aloud to himself, making him grin a little at the world crossing friendship between those three. "Yeesh. Those three are together even when they're made out of wood."
The Beagle Boys placed the wooden cutouts down in front of the ship's cannons. Which were starting to look like more than just props as Pete came on the scene from the ships deck.
"Pete!" But it turned out to be a surprise for Riku when it wasn't the cannons that destroyed the cutout of his friends but the large crate from the pulled-in catwalk above. "!"
Pete laughed at his trap's success. Leaving to get ready for when the real deal comes around- most likely. While the Beagle Boys ran backstage from the orchestra pit to set everything up again.
"Wait!" Riku ran after the Beagle Boys, battling a Vanille's Link Portal along the way. Even at the Backstage entrance another Link Portal was waiting for him. Dodging the Nightmare's attack as he completely O. Knight's battle portal challenge.
Taking the stairway up to the next Floor's backstage room, he was greeted by a moving box. Which moved more frantically as it heard him coming.
"Huh?" Riku ran to the box, handling with caution before opening the box. "Is someone..."
MUMBLE
"..." He couldn't hear anything legible, muffled through the heavy chest. But regardless, they made a sound and someone in there needed help. Summoning his Keyblade, Riku carefully unlocked the chest. Revealing a mouse dressed like a princess.
"Oh!"
"!" He recognized this princess. "Minnie!"
Suddenly it all came back to him. Of course this place seemed familiar, Mickey had told him about this place along their journey from darkness back to Radiant Garden. This must world must have been sleeping from the time before Mickey became King, when he first met his future Queen, Princess Minnie. That's why Mickey and the others were dressed as Musketeers, it all made sense now. Riku was a little flabbergast and flattered that he could see the story of Mickey's life as a Musketeer playthrough while also playing a part in it.
This must have been before the time Mickey had left to train with Master Yen Sid and Magic was brought back to their world. That explains why Pete hadn't used a Curaga for his peg leg yet. But Pete had worked his way up to be Captain of the guards. The leader of the Musketeers that had the trust of his people and his princess. Why did he throw that all away? However the Sleeping World's Heart told Riku that Pete had become too greedy. He wanted to be more than Captain of the Musketeers, he wanted to be King. And he would dethrone Princess Minnie along with destroying the Musketeers just to get it.
But now wasn't a time to wander off in thought, Princess Minnie had made her way out of the box and more than likely would have some questions. Knowing that she had just been locked up in a box and he was a complete stranger to her, he knew she would be wary of him.
"Oh, thank you for saving me!" Minnie curtsied in gratitude. But instead of asking questions, like he had expected her to, she walked away.
"Where are you going?" Riku asked as she headed further into the backstage. If she had just been locked up it would've been best if she left the area instead of going further into danger.
"I have to help the Musketeers." Princess Minnie insisted.
"What happened? Tell me what I can do." If his friends were in trouble he wanted to help, too.
"Who are you?" She finally asked him, turning back to the helping stranger.
"Riku." Riku smiled, greeting Princess Minnie. Happy to finally meet the Queen that his friend so happily told him about, even if it was her past self from a Sleeping World. He couldn't wait to tell Mickey about this after the test was over. "Mickey's my friend."
"..." She let out a small sigh of relief to finally have a friendly face during these trying times. She told him her troubles, seeing him as a friend. If he was a friend of Mickey, then he was a friend of hers. Her heart told her that he was a good person. And she would need all the friends she could get to help. "Oh, Riku, the stage has been rigged with a machine to lure Mickey and the others into a terrible trap. If we could only find something to control the device from here..."
"(Gasp)!" "(Gasp)!" Riku and Minnie both gasped as the answer to the problems was behind them holding a control crank.
"Lucky I remembered. Look what I nearly forgot!" One of the Beagle Boys said, turning around as he thought he was talking to one of his teammates. Only to jump in surprise to see that it was an angry free Princess and a scary looking boy. "Eh? Why's the box sans mouse?"
"Oi, quit messin around." Called out another Beagle Boy, bring the other Beagle Boy's attention to his approaching teammates from further backstage. "The boss is losin' his patience!"
Only for them all to finally realized that the captured princess was free and was now accompanied by a tough looking stranger.
"There it is!" Princess Minnie pointed towards the three ruffians. "That's the gadget we need to retrieve!"
"I'm on it." Riku charged at them as if on her command. Making the Beagle Boys frightened of the charging opponent that could put up more of a fight than an unarmed princess.
"Run for it!" All three of the shouted as they flee for their lives.
Riku tracked them down, avoiding the gas traps they laid down to stop him. The gas was making his Drop Gauge go down faster, he had to smash the traps to get rid of the gas. But Nightmares blocked his path. And jumping from object to desk made him feel like a kid again playing "Lava". His Drop Gauge really took a beating, but at least he found some items and a Ducky Goose Recipe along the way.
And swinging further up towards the upper exit, Riku had found a Blizzaga spell hidden away in a big chest. With this he wouldn't have to buy the powerful spell back from the Moogle Shop. Breaking through boarded up areas, Riku wound up gears to lower rope elevators. Before Riku could get to the elevator ropes, one of the Beagle Boys attacked him. But he didn't cause too much trouble...
"Yah!" Riku slam his Keyblade down on the Beagle Boy, knocking him out. With his arrival pointed to Riku that he was headed in the right direction to the others. Sliding up one of the ropes tightened by the gears, Riku made it to the platform above. Taking some stairs up to the open door around the corner into the Green Room corridor. However, his battered Drop Gauge had depleted its last drop not long after Riku had gone through the door.
Riku dropped to sleep...
"There he goes again."
"He looks more tired than before."
"Here. This should help." Aeris gentle voice said from above Riku as a Curaga flowed through his tired body. "Heal."
Riku was up again and on the trail, feeling refreshed. Along the way he got lucky and found a big item box containing a Stop spell. Which was good for him since he couldn't obtain it from the Moogle Shop at the moment now he could put the munny elsewhere.
The corridor had another gas trap which forced Riku to jump along the walls to get to it, but he managed to destroy it without taking any damage to his Drop Gauge. He ran through a dressing Green Room area towards the next corridor, finding some items hidden behind the costume racks- along with one of the Beagle Boys.
"Sorry." Riku said as he whacked the hooligan into next week. "You're done."
He took the corridor into the next open room. The lower floor was covered in gas as Riku took a jump kick from the wall to reach and destroy the trap. He found another Beagle Boy hiding behind a closed door. Breaking the door down, he forced the robber out and fought him among the furniture props and grand piano.
"Take this!" Riku said as he knocked the last Beagle Boy out, taking back the Stage Gadget from him.
He hurried to the device Backstage, rushing without a moment to lose to stop that trap.
"!" Startled by the sudden Mole-like Nightmare that lunged out at him through the floor, he jumped and rolled out of the way. Looking back as the giant Nightmare disappeared into the floor again. Only to poke at his shoulder from behind. "(Gasp)!"
But when he turned around it had already retreated into the wall.
'Great. Now I have to deal with a space-defying mole.' Riku groaned inside as he looked all around him. The Nightmare could reappear from anywhere. And it did, looking down at him from above on the wall behind him.
"(Sigh). They just never want to make this easy, do they?" Riku summoned his Keyblade as he faced this new Nightmare for a fight. This...Holey Moley.
It retreated into the wall again. Riku jumped from wall to wall, keeping on the move so the Holey Moley couldn't grab him. He waited until the Nightmare showed itself again before he went in for the strike. It had came out from the floor near him as he jumped in on it with a Thunder Dash and Dark Firaga. It kept disappearing and reappearing in all sorts of places- it had even pop out upside down on a hanging mechanism.
Either way, Riku had to keep on the move as it kept throwing dug out attacks at him. Keeping Riku fighting at a distance until he could get an opening.
"Freeze!" Riku shot a Blizzaga at the Nightmare, even a few Balloonga and Dark Firaga. Slowly eating at its health while he dodged its attacks. Barrier helped block off the attacks he couldn't dodge.
Sometimes the Nightmare would only reveal its clawed paws, using its space-manipulation to scatter them about the area. That was a little weird for Riku. Even more so than when the Nightmare would occasionally pop its head out, letting Riku play whack-a-mole with it as the head turned out to take more damage.
"Dream." Riku Flowmotion attacked, boosting himself with the power of light as he finished off the Holey Moley. "Yah!"
The fight was over, and from it he learned Shadow Slide and Shadow Strike. It looks like watching the Holey Moley's fighting style had really bad off. On closer inspection, Riku learned that it wasn't exactly just manipulating space around it, but using Dark Corridors in close range and precise calculated quantities. Watching the Nightmare closely, Riku had figured out how to use the darkness to warp behind his opponents.
"Riku hurry! The machine!" Princess Minnie called out to him as she finally caught up with him. She had fallen so far behind Riku, but it made sense to him since she was running in a elegant dress while keeping up the dainty and graceful air as princess of a kingdom. He didn't mind it much, glad that he was able to clear the way for her so she didn't get hurt.
Placing the Stage Gadget into the machine's socket and wind it up to disable the trap.
"How do you like that?" Riku snarked at the machine, hoping that Pete enjoyed the little surprise.
"Wha-?" Pete could be heard from stage, confused as trap failed to work. "Impossible!"
The trapped failed. Mickey and the others were safe.
"Looks like I was right in the nick of time...Sora."
"(Sigh). They're safe." Princess Minnie sighed in relief, placing her hands over her heart. Riku turned to look back to her at the sound as she approached. "Oh, thank goodness. You truly saved the day, Riku. I see you're as brave as a Royal Musketeer."
""Musketeer"? What is that, anyway?" Riku asked. He had been hearing about that for a while since he got here and has been meaning to ask.
"..." Princess Minnie gestured for Riku to come down to her level as if to tell him a secret.
"Huh?" Following her silent request, Riku bent down to one knee leaning over as Princess Minnie whispered the answer in his ear. It was a sacred greed of the Royal Musketeers, her royal family's brave guards. Not just anyone could know their ways. But Princess Minnie knew that Riku had the makings of a Musketeer inside him.
"Those that take the oath for country and king, to protect their kingdom and friends no matter what. The pledge of "All for one, and one for all"."
"They...they actually say that?" Riku leaned back to look at her in flabbergast. That...made sense of so much.
"Of course." Minnie replied as Riku got back up again. "Every Musketeer is taught those words. It's a very important motto and solemn pledge."
"You're right. And it does fit the moment." Riku said as he thought of the poetic nature of the words, looking at his Keyblade and all he had been through along with his friends. Rising his Keyblade up, he took the creed. "All for one...and one for all."
The Sleeping Keyhole revealed itself at his words, opening something in Riku's heart as he unlocked the Keyhole. With the Sleeping World now awaken, he was rewarded with the All for One Keyblade.
Now that his task here on this world is done, Riku took the other exit door to head on out of the opera house. If the backstage circled around, like he thought it should, then the path ahead would also lead back to the stairway parlor. But before that, he explored the backstage room now that it was vacant of the giant Nightmare. Finding a few items and Staggerceps recipe among the crates of props.
Circling back to the opera house stairway from the right passage way he had found a large item box containing Shadowbreaker along the path. Along with a few Special Portals he had bumped into coming around. With his Drop Gauge at a low and all that he had left to be explored was seen, Riku dropped.
"Welcome back." Aeris greeted Riku as he sat up. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah, I even found some more friends." Riku replied, going over to his Dream Eater nursery to create Aura Lion, Ducky Goose, and Staggerceps. It had been a quick task with him walking out with his new Dream Eater Spirits in under a minute without breaking the conversation. "And I learned a lot of new abilities."
"Oh, like what?"
"Hey!" Loz shouted as Riku Shadow Slide behind him to flick Loz in the back of the head. Chuckling as he Shadow Slide back to where he was before Loz turned around to notice him.
"You seem to be a lot more comfortable with your darkness." Kadaj pointed out.
"Yeah..." Riku looked down at his hand, no longer afraid of himself. "I know who I am now."
"No longer running away?" Yazoo bluntly commented Riku's past fear of the darkness inside and how he tried so hard to deny its existence.
"I'd never get anywhere if I kept running from myself. It was about time I faced the dawn."
"So, Riku. What did you find in this new world?" Aeris asked, engaging in Riku's interactions and encouraging his inner growth, along with her other boys.
"It wasn't exactly Disney Castle, but I was in an opera house from Mickey's world."
"An opera house?! Ooo, I always loved the theater arts." Aeris gasped in happy excitement, resting her hand on her cheek as she sighed in wonder. Sephiroth use to take her on dates to places like this, even though he didn't much care for it but he knew she like them, just to spend some time with her. He didn't go on dates with her often, but she cherished every one of them when they did. "What play were they doing?"
"Murder."
"What?"
"I-I mean, nothing was showing." Riku corrected himself as he shook his head. He didn't mean to be so blunt about it but it just came out. Perhaps his brothers had been rubbing off of him more than he thought. "They were just setting up. Turns out Pete had set up a trap for Mickey and the others and it was up to Minnie and me to disable it."
"That sounds dangerous. What was he going to do, drop a piano down on them from a catwalk?" Aeris huffed in angered sarcasm. 'The nerve of that Pete, how terrible.'
"You're not that far off." Riku mumbled, looking the other way. Suddenly a thought hit him, leaving him with some questions. He looked back at Aeris. "Hey, Mom. The world of Disney Castle is still in the realm of light. Yet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pete were on the Sleeping World of the Country of Musketeers. How can that be?"
"Well...the Country of Musketeers is...apart of Disney Castle."
"I don't understand."
"(Sigh) When a world falls into darkness and returns to the realm of light once again, some of the World's Heart remains in a sleep." Aeris tried to explain as best she could, without confusing Riku with the gritty details. "The world remains in the Sleeping realm at the moment it had fell into darkness. When that world returned to the realm of light it left behind a Sleeping World of itself. Think of that as Sleeping World as a memory lost in the sleeping realm from its world like a chain of memories. And the world that returned just continues on in its path around the lost memory.
"That memory could have been a place, or a time, now lost to the returned world and its inhabitance. Only to be returned when the Sleeping World has been awaken. Like a forgotten memory, lost but not gone. The denizens of that world may remember a time when that place existed on their world, but their world doesn't so its no longer there. But its in the Sleeping World along with its world's memories of it. Do you understand?"
"I... kind of get what you're saying." Riku was still a little confused, but he got it for the most part. He just has to think about it like the time Sora's memories were unchained and he had to go to sleep to have them chained back together. The worlds when they returned from the realm of darkness just had a few memories/places unchained from their chain of memories along the way back. And it was up to Sora and him to bring those chains back to their rightful place. "So what you're saying is that the Country of Musketeers, along with the opera house and the area around it, will return to the world of Disney Castle with the unlocking of the Sleeping Keyhole?"
"More or less."
"So then, the world of Disney Castle will remember the great things Mickey and the others had done as Musketeers."
"As nice as it is for their world to have its memories returned; it doesn't matter if their world remembers their deeds or not. What matters is that "they" remember, and those memories helped make them into the person they are now."
"That doesn't make any sense. Of course the memories matter."
"I know, it's hard to explain what I trying to say. But I hope you get the meaning."
"..." He'll try..."But are all Sleeping Worlds fragments of another world?"
"If you think about it, all worlds are a small piece of one shattered world from long ago."
"You're not helping." Riku groaned at her teasing.
"(Chuckle). No, Riku." She finally answered. "Some are full worlds lost in a dream, while others are fragmented pieces of a world. It depends, you can have a better tell with how much easier it is to hear the world's Heart. Full worlds' Hearts tend to be louder than fragmented ones. Go see for yourself."
And with a small push from his mother, Riku dropped into the realm between Sleeping Worlds. Taking Pegaslick and Aura Lion with him- along with Majik Lapin as a passive- before taking the dive into the next Sleeping World. Which Heart was...singing?
The drop down was a beautiful sunset blue with purple clouds. Dark trees rising up from the world fell hidden under the night shadow as magenta flower petals fluttered in the wind all around him- along with scales of written music. Komory Bat and Ghostabocky Nightmares hindered his way down, he must have taken out over 30 of them. And the further he dropped down, the softer blue it got- like an early morning sky. The trees had become more clear and the clouds turned into a baby blue.
The dive only took two minutes, and by the time Riku had dropped down onto the world he had discovered that he was in Master Yen Sid's tower.
'(Gasp)! Wait. Is the test over?' Riku thought, thinking that he was back in the tower. Immediately shaking the thought away. 'No, this is different. Master Yen Sid said that we'd have to unlock seven Sleeping Worlds. This one would be the seventh. Its more likely that even this small world had fallen into darkness once before, too. But the real question is when?'
That's when Riku noticed the elephant in the room. The whole place was flooding up, close to his knee level, and the water was continuing to rise.
"!" He ran up closer to Master Yen Sid's desk, drawn by the sound of distressed groaning. Only to find that it was a friend dressed in a red wizard's robe wearing Master Yen Sid's hat. Looking to be forcefully sleeping as his hands moved along in a terrible dream. "Mickey!"
Darkness surrounded Mickey, forcing him to carry on the spell that was flooding the room by the music book behind him. If Mickey was in trouble with the darkness around him this must have been when he was still training. Back when Master Yen Sid was teaching Mickey, before he became a Keyblade Master. He must have been playing with powers he was not ready yet to control. The darkness had taken over Mickey's body, his heart was trapped somewhere else.
"It's this musical score. It has him trapped." Riku approached the book. Pulling out his Keyblade, Riku was going to try and destroy the music to set Mickey free.
"You won't be able to defeat that darkness with brute force." Mickey told Riku through his heart, pass the restless dream. But the heart's call wasn't coming from Mickey's body, no, it was coming from the music floating all around the room. Startled by the communication he wasn't quite use to from people other than family, Riku calmed himself and approached Mickey to talk about another solution. "I'm Mickey, the sorcerer's apprentice. Who are you?"
"Riku." He introduced himself, putting away his Keyblade. "If brute force won't work, tell me what will."
"Do ya really mean you're gonna try and help me?"
"Yes." Riku answered, looking up at the music above where he could Sense Mickey's heart.
"Gosh, Riku, something tells me you and I are gonna be good friends, and we'll help each other out a lot someday."
"(Gasp)," Riku gave out a breathy laugh as he smiled at that. This past version of his friend was a lot more accurate than he realized.
With the light from Mickey's heart, Mickey summoned the music score that would save him with Riku's help.
"Inside this music is a Sound Idea powerful enough to dispel the darkness. Can you find it?" Mickey explained. Riku could Sense the darkness of Nightmares hidden between the notes. This task won't be easy.
"I'll try. Leave it to me." Riku accepted the task. Finding the Sound Idea wouldn't be a piece of cake, but Riku would do it if it'll help his friend. Summoning his Keyblade again, Riku opened the way into the music realm, a tiny world inside a music score.
Symphony of Sorcery
The Sleeping World had told Riku how Mickey had been using powerful magic to do his chores for him. But the magic was too much for him to control and he had unknowingly summoned the Spellican trying to stop it which took a hold of his body. Riku got the gist of what had happened, the strange part is the this world's Heart did not explain this through words but music and subtle visual. Riku was use to the mumble's of worlds' hearts and the jumble of multiple voices at once. But this one was mostly silent of the voice, only the rumble of fantasia music sounded strong from its hearts. It was...a new experience for Riku. Though, not an unpleasant one.
Riku found himself in a giant forest shrouded in night, the Moonlight Wood. The grass and closed hellebores towered over him as he swung from the stems of young tree sprout to attack appearing Nightmares. He found a piece of the Sound Idea sitting on top of a rock. Using Reality Shift to unlock it through Melody Catcher, catching the notes through the lost scale, returning it to the musical score. The return of the Sound Idea piece to the music score opened up the white hellebore flowers to Riku, opening up the path.
Jumping on the hellebores to higher ground, Riku continued on into the sleeping wood. He had encountered a Special Portal near the hellebores on the platform, taking care of the Pegaslick Nightmares before carrying on. The only things stirring in the wood's night were the Nightmares as the world's heart music continued to play on and on. It's song was comforting, like a familiar melody. In Riku's heart it sounded like a suite from the Nutcracker while he was certain for others in might be another melody.
Through his journey through the Moonlight Wood he had found many items scattered about. Obtaining Zero Graviza spell was a great fine- if only he had still spell when he was fighting those Secret Portal battles. But that wasn't important now, he needed to get to higher ground to continue forward. So climbing the mushrooms growing along the colossal trees, jumping from one after the other, higher and higher. Doing his best to not let the Nightmares knock him off to the bottom. Luckily Magic and Reality Shift helped him take care of the ones that could fly.
Along the way he found a Yuffie's Link Portal, forced to used the same tactics again as the flying Eaglider Nightmares took to the sky. Only to find another Link Portal among the mushroom steps, a Special Portal. One where once he defeated all the Ghostabocky Nightmares he was rewarded with their recipe. Eventually he made it to the path again. Climbing up more hellebores as the path went higher and higher. Until he found another piece of the Sound Idea under a arch of lily of the valley flowers. Reality Shifting to Melody Catcher unlock the lost scale. Which in turn opened up the path blocked off by grass to a valley of moonflowers.
Following down the path of the moonflower valley was beautiful- it was something that he will truly remember. He'd have to make sure to make a patch of this valley in his dreamworld for his mother to see- he was sure she would love that. But the place after the moonflower valley wasn't so pretty. The Golden Wood looked dead from the barren trees to the red hue in the dirt and few wilted plants. And the volcanic lighting coming from between the trees had the look of fire.
Riku found Balthier's Friendship Link Portal by some pickily branches and another Sound Idea hidden piece off in a top barren uplift that hid the only living flowers in the area. Strong Nightmares that breathed fire guarded the Sound Idea, Riku and his Spirits Flowmotioned through them with a little bit of trouble. The Nightmares were certainly getting stronger the further in they went.
Unlocking the Sound Idea piece made the flowers grow bigger, and the wilted plants along the area sprung back to life. Giving the barren wood a warmer Fall look. A path higher up along the now-living plants was revealed. Riku jumped up onto the red leaves. With each step he took a note rang out. Along the way he had found a Special Portal, forcing to block fire breathing Ryu Dragons that would occasionally ram at him. The fight went by pretty quick; however, it left him wanting a Ryu Dragon of his own. Jumping along the pattern of leaves, Riku had found a Ryu Dragon Recipe. Excited that his short lived dream of having a dragon did not take long to achieve.
Surfing on a vine to get to a higher platform of leaves, Riku continued upward until he made it to the path on higher ground. Surprisingly, the new area looked more dreary and cold than the previous one. The Snowgleam Wood looked to be cover in snow as giant seedhead of dandelions stood frozen in their spot. The starry night sky shined unhindered over the nearly barren valley. A Sound Idea piece stood alone on a small island sounded by a lake of cold water.
Riku took the cold splash along his feet to reach the Sound Idea piece. Unlocking it to reveal a Special Portal- fighting 3 powerful Ryu Dragon and Pegaslick Nightmares; and, a larger island with snowballs that connected to a path that swirled up towards what Riku could only assume was a large hill or a mountain. Playing around for a bit Riku jumped on one of the snowballs to roll over the coming Nightmares before surfing the snowflake rails up the path to higher platforms- one with a item box and a Special Portal. Riding through a tunnel and taking the leap of faith over a gap to reach the other side of the broken path.
He had jumped down for second, only to reach another Link Portal of Squall's that he couldn't get to on the other side of the cold lake. But that was alright, he'd just have to Thunder Dash back up again. The path lead him to another body of water, one even bigger than the last. Again, on a lone, island, another Sound Idea piece stood in the middle of the cold waters. Unlocking the piece of Sound Idea made the small island even bigger and connected both sides of the lake with snowflake rails. Above, three giants snowflake platforms danced in the air.
Riku took the snowflake rail up, jumping off just high enough to Thunder Dash onto one of the snowflake platforms. Jumping on the other ones to reach the small shelf in the mountain, where he obtained Ice Barrage from an item box. It was an interesting form of Magic that mix the spell Blizzard and Barrier together. A good fine, but this wasn't the right direction.
Jumping down, Riku took the other snowflake rails up towards another uplifted path. This one would lead him further into the mountain where all the pieces of Sound Idea had gathered into one whole form. The Sound Idea joined with Riku, resting in his heart to be taken back to where it belongs.
"!" Riku startled as the Sleeping World's heart went suddenly silent. Everything was swept away like a black paintbrush as darkness engulfed the area. But with everything disappearing around him, so did the ground under his feet. "Ahhh!"
Riku fell into the darkness, falling until he could Sense something at the bottom. Looking down he noticed a dark mountain with dim winds ribbon around it. The only light coming from it was the fire at its peak and the cracks from below. Riku Floated down to see where he had ended up. Stopping where he was in the air as he stumbled across the boy a black coat that was with Ansem before on the peak of the mountain.
Riku was surprised to see him here, the other guy not so much. In fact he looked glad to see Riku there, as if waiting for him. Riku landed on a rock just below the peak to confront him while also keeping a safe distance.
"You waiting for me?" Riku asking, wondering inside why this guy had picked a terrible meeting place.
"Yes. The boy chosen by the Keyblade- Riku."
"What?"
"It was yours first, wasn't it?" The stranger declared much to Riku's confusion. "But you succumbed to the darkness you could not control, and your prize- the Keyblade- passed on to Sora instead."
"..." Riku clenched his fists at the stranger's accusation, seething inside. The guy was speaking nonsense. But there were some truths stringed inside his tribble, and that's what stings the most.
"Your mistakes always end up being other people's problems."
"Maybe so. But I'm here to change all of that." Riku declared, looking back up at the stranger with determination. He would not let his past drag him down again as he accepted his actions and continued forward. Riku knew who he was and no one else would sway him otherwise.
"Once again you performed predictably," the stranger almost sounded disappointed, "although on a grander scale than I imagined."
"If you're feeling so chatty, let's skip to where you reveal what this is all about." Riku was getting tired of these games and cryptic messages. Riku smirked at the guy, daring the stranger to surprise him with whatever he's got.
"..." Fire fumed from the mountain peak behind as the stranger studied Riku for a second. Finally speaking when the fire boiled down. "I don't know how you did it, but you really have found a way to trap darkness inside your heart. And a boy who's immune to darkness is of no use to us."
"Well, there's some good news."
"Your abyss awaits." Replied the stranger to his sarcasm. Fire roared from the behind as the volcano became active. As if summoned by the stranger's darkness as fire and hell rained down, the rise of Chernabog came with a roar. Riku was pushed back as it burst from the mountain and the roaring winds.
"!" This creature was no Nightmare, this was no Heartless. This was some kind of demonic denizen that resided between the realms of dark and light. Suddenly the Sleeping World began to sing again. This piece...Night of Bald Mountain...his heart knew what this was. This was no longer Symphony of Sorcery, this was End of the World. This was Bald Mountain and this gigantic humanoid demon trapped from the knees-down in its volcano was none other than Chernabog.
He had heard stories about this being, whether from Sora, Mickey, or his brothers. This muscular being with curved horns was darker than night. His glowing yellow eyes and four white fangs from his mouth the only color not devoured by the void of his darkness. His enormous, black, bat-like wings larger than him engulfed the entire area in darkness with its wingspan. Riku could not lie by saying he wasn't scared to face this Chernabog. But he will face his fear.
Flying back towards Bald Mountain and Chernabog, Riku dodged the Magma Geysers from below while evading Chernabog's Flame Shots being thrown at him. This creature had an amazing control over fire, he could relentlessly shoot fireballs at Riku and rise flames from the geysers below and still keep on going. And his wings let out a powerful gush of wind with just one flap. The moment Riku got close enough to Dive Strike at Chernabog his wings would knock Riku all the way back.
The second flight towards Chernabog lead to Riku also dodging his summoned Fiends. Riku knew in his gut that if those Fiends catch him, he was toast. Whether to Chernabog's coming in Flame Shots or Magma Geysers, something told Riku that he would not care if he burned his minions along with Riku as well. Dodging through the sky like a fighter pilot in a dogfight, Riku came in close again, Dive Striking Chernabog.
Chernabog pushed him back once for, his fires more furious than the lasts. The place was covered in hellfire and was still not lit by the flames. It was like the darkness consumed all light. Aerial dodging the Fiends, Riku rammed through the Magma Geysers with Dodging Deflect. Barreling through the Wall of Flames as he Dive Strikes Chernabog one last time.
The battle was over? Riku had won? Somehow this didn't feel right. The fight should have been a lot harder- regardless of how much Riku had already broken a sweat to win it. Chernabog was much weaker than he should have been. More like...tired. As if it was not his time to rise up and wreak havoc, as if someone had woken him up early.
Regardless, Riku had won, and was sent back to Master Yen Sid's tower.
"(Gasp)!" Riku was startled by how quick he had gotten back to the tower from End of the World.
"Thank you, Riku. Say, can we try out that Sound Idea?" Called out the voice of Mickey, bringing Riku back from his thoughts.
"..." Reaching from his heart, he pulled out the Sound Idea, composing the piece with his Keyblade as it raised up...to join up with Sora's from the other side, creating a powerful harmony. "(Gasp)!"
The song...he knew this song...from back on Destiny Islands. It was a song that ringed out from the oceans through the waves and the breeze as the warm sky touched the islands' sand. Riku had never fully been able to hear the song clearly through the many voices rising up from the Lifestream. But after getting a feel of listening to a world's Heart that spoke only in music, Riku's Sense had gotten much better. Dearly Beloved...it was more beautiful than he thought it was. It sounded like home...
From the harmony, the water was cleared and the room was restored back to normal. Mickey had woken up, his heart returned to his body, overjoyed as he looked over himself and his hands. The song continued to sing.
"That was amazing! What happened?"
"Sora." Riku kept looking up as the melodies continued to harmonize with each other.
"Sora? Funny... Just hearing that name kinda makes me wanna smile." Mickey joined up Riku, looking at the melodies as well before looking back at Riku.
"Yeah. That's how he is." Riku chuckled at that, looking back at Mickey.
"Whaddaya know... Riku and Sora. The Sound Ideas you two set free joined together." Mickey declared, figuring out what happened. "And when they did, they made a great and powerful harmony."
"Hmn." Riku couldn't help but grin at that. "Sora can find the brightest part of anything, and pull off miracles like there's nothing to it. It's pretty hard not to smile around him."
That's what made Sora so amazing. He was a great friend.
"Wow! No wonder the music sounded like so much fun." Mickey complemented in amazement. "But I bet he's got you to thank for that. Having such a good friend means he could really enjoy it."
"Huh?"
"It's like each of you is holding on to a little part of the other. Your hearts are always in tune, so they're free to sing."
"..." Hearts free to sing...
"Gosh, I hope I can be part of the team someday." Mickey reached up to shake Riku's hand. Riku gladly took it, bending down a little to Mickey's level.
"You will. Trust me." He already was.
"Heh-ha!" Mickey laughed in his usual way whenever he was happy. It was uniquely his laugh, and it made Riku smile whenever he heard it.
The Sleeping Keyhole revealed itself by Master Yen Sid's chair. Unlocking the Sleeping Keyhole with his Keyblade, Riku was gifted by the Sleeping World the Counterpoint Keyblade. Riku grabbed some items from the chest and fighting the Special Portal outside of Master Yen Sid's tower before dropping his Drop Gauge. Falling back to sleep, back into his dreamworld...
"Well, how was it?" Aeris asked down at her son expectantly. Already knowing that he figured out how to listen to the worlds' heart song just by the look in his eyes. Usually it was hard to hear on worlds with many speech driven denizens on it. Their voices in the Lifestream tended to drowned the song out in the world's heart.
"..." He looked up at his mother before slowly turning his head towards his oldest brother with a neutral face. "Suck it, Loz. I got to beat Chernabog."
"WHAT?" Loz shouted in rejection.
"No way." "!" Kadaj and Yazoo's eyes widen in disbelief.
"I don't believe you. You're lying." Loz huffed with a stomp in denial. Riku chuckled in taunting at his brother's reaction. His older brothers had talk about Chernabog a couple times before. Riku didn't have much of a competitive nature nor was he a sore winner. There was just a brotherly rivalry in him that made him feel good inside at rubbing this victory in their face.
"There's no way you've taken Chernabog down on your own." Kadaj deduced for himself. "His power must have been diminished."
"Yeah he did seem tired." Riku honestly admitted with a groan.
"Should I be concerned about who this Chernabog is?" Aeris questioned, out of the loop as she looked around at her boys.
"Chernabog is a colossal denizen between the realms of darkness and light at The End of World trapped in Bald Mountain." Kadaj answered.
"More like a demon really." Yazoo added in before Loz continued on in enthusiasm.
"He's a really big guy, darker than shadows with huge bat wings. Horns and fangs sharp as pikes and yellow glowing eyes that pierce through the void." Loz was practically jumping in excitement.
"Older bro- I mean Father," Kadaj corrected himself, old habits die hard. "He use to take us to End of the World to train a few times on set dates. Apparently Chernabog mostly sleeps inside Bald Mountains, only waking up on one specific day of the year to cause devastating destruction. Facing an overwhelming opponent would force us and our power over darkness to either grow or destroy us. So Father would take us to the base of Bald Mountain and left us to fight Chernabog on our own."
"Oh, no. This is terrible." Aeris cried with worry, her eyes water at the suffering all her boys had to go through. Disgusted that their father put the three of them through this.
"It wasn't so bad." Yazoo said in a monotone voice in his own way of comforting his mother.
"A couple of times we had been able to beat him back into his mountain." Kadaj tried to explain to his mother that there was nothing to fret about. It was in the past and they had survived. "Loz had tried taking Chernabog on his own a few times. (Chuckle) Only for him to have his butt handed to him and us having to bail him out."
"Hey!"
"But for the times when Chernabog had us at the end of our ropes she had always-"
"?!" Riku looked to Kadaj in question at his sudden pause. His hands were slightly shaking and his fists were clinched.
"Tch- she would always send her Guardian Heartless to Corridor us out of there whenever we were in trouble..."
"She?" Riku asked, finally sitting up.
"Jenova," Kadaj answered with hurt endearment that turned into a sneer. "The fake mother."
"The fake mother?" Aeris was confused by the weird title.
"She lied to us." Kadaj had to hold back from shouting as he growled. "She pretended to be our mother. Made us believe that she cared about us for all those years. She's nothing more than the calamity from the sky. A deceiving liar."
"Well...not really." Aeris reluctantly admitted, seeing that this was still a sensitive subject for Kadaj.
"What?" Kadaj's voice was dead-tone but she had his attention- along with the others.
"Technically, she IS your "grandmother"- your father's mother."
Jenova...their grandmother. Riku had never met her before. He had heard things about her from his mother before, but... There was something inside his heart that always wanted to meet her. Perhaps the part of him that came from his father, perhaps even the darkness in him. Regardless of whatever it was inside him, the part of him that wanted to know who his family is and what he is, was the main driving force for his desire to at least get to know her.
"..." However, Kadaj had known her, and his mother's words weren't helping. "Have you even met her? She's a monster."
"I remember her." Aeris replied, not liking the tone Kadaj was starting to take. "I remember the first time I met her. She was nothing more than a head resting in the grip of your father's hand. Her platinum hair dangling to the ground as her purple cat-slit eyes looked so calamitous."
"!" Riku's eyes widen at the fact that his mother spoke of his decapitated grandmother as if it was nothing special. "She's just a head?! How is she still even alive?"
"When you get old enough, your regenerative powers will get ridiculously good." Aeris brushed off their future to come.
"Still...that must be painful. Did Shinra do this to her?" Riku clenched over his heart as a wave of sympathy hit him hard.
"No..." Aeris sadly admitted, lowering her head. "Your father cut off her head himself."
"!" All of her boys looked to her in horror.
"The two of them had received a terrible wound while he was trying to free her from her Shinra confinement and he didn't have a really good regenerative ability." Aeris told the story as she remembered from her shared memories with Sephiroth. "So he stole the power of darkness from her body in order for them both to escape alive."
"Holy..." Was all Riku could spit out as his brothers were struck silent.
"I know...you've been through a lot of terrible things." Aeris sympathized to Kadaj, squeezing his hand in comfort in hers, before addressing all of her boys. "We all have been. And so has she. I know she kept you from your home, and I know your time in the darkness was really hard. But in her own twisted way, she did what she did because she cared about you boys. She wanted what was best for us. Yes, I mean all of us, she tried to pull all of us into the darkness with your father- Me and Riku included."
"!" Riku flinched at the called out as his mom pointed at the both of them. She continued what she had to say, placing her hand over her heart.
"She wanted to protect us, the only way she knew how. As an Ancient whom has spent so long in the darkness, alone and thinking she was the last of her kind, protected by the darkness. She would want what little family she had left to be protected by it, too."
"..." All of her boys remained silent as they mauled over her words. Seeing their grandmother, Jenova, in a different perspective.
"I don't agree with her methods, and I certainly didn't appreciate having you all taken away from me, but you should still care about Jenova. She's your father's mother, after all. The one that helped raise you." Aeris sighed out in sadness as she looked away. Her eyes going to a memory far away that made them water in longing. "I would have given everything for you boys to be able to meet mine..."
"..." The boys' hearts felt a twist of pain at their mother's heartache. Their poor mother, she had lost hers- at such a young age- to a place she could not reach. Could they even imagine if they had lost their mother? The thought was devastating.
They had all rushed to hug her, gathering around her in a family group hug. Squeezing her until the pain goes away. Beyond Riku's notice, the valley of moonflowers had formed around them in an unconscious attempt to comfort her. A few fireflies danced among the flowers and a starry, full-moon sky glowed over their little patch of valley like a dome as it covered them in its soft glow.
"It's okay, boys. I'm okay." Aeris assured to them in a soft voice, trying to hold back the tears. With her loving boys around her, there was no time to be sad. She had something else to say. "I'm not trying to force you or rush you to do anything. But I hope that some day...you can forgive her. And your father..."
"Have you been able to forgive them...?" Kadaj quietly asked.
"(Soft, Weak Chuckle) I've been trying to get my family back for so long that I didn't even have time to hold a grudge against them." Aeris admitted. Her boys were not ones for long physical contact and have already started to pull away the moment they Sensed she was alright. Giving her back her space to notice her changed surroundings. "Oh!"
"..." To Riku's embarrassment he noticed how much space Riku's heart had used to make his dreamworld's own moonflower valley unconsciously just to make his mom smile again. This whole thing made him look like a softie, or a big mama's boy. Doing his best to keep whatever dignity or image he had left, he just rolled with it. "So who likes flowers?"
"..."
As if answering Riku's silent call to be thrown a bone, Loz slowly raised his hand through the silence. It was almost funny, during his time in the darkness Loz had grown to find flowers gross- the smell of their light overbearingly sweet. But as a child he had loved to play through them, and as he grew in his time away from the darkness he found his fondness of flowers returning again.
"(Giggle)," Aeris gently laughed, raising her hand as well along with Loz's. "They're beautiful, Riku."
*** Author's Notes ***
Author's Notes: There are 6 Special Portals on each world for Sora and Riku, with the exception of World That Never Was which only has 3. Only one Special Portal opens at time per each Drop and its randomized. For the sake of story, I will neglect that game rule and just do it all in one go while also not pointing out all of the Secret portals for the sake of time. Play the game if you wish to find them, which I highly recommend. It's a good game, I enjoyed replaying it.
Also: Riku's run through Symphony of Sorcery was my favorite. I love the Nutcracker suite, and Disney's Fantasia had done a beautiful job incorporating it with their animation. And Moonlight Wood was visually more appealing for me than the Fields. It felt like a more a flowing mix of a real woods and a dream that transcended through the seasons, while Sora's Cloudwalk and Fields area felt more like a child's unicorn dream. The Glen and stormy Fields were an interesting surreal. While Sora's Sorcerer's Apprentice area, where he fights the Spellican, was in a league of its own. It was so breathtaking. However, the Wood areas were so much more beautiful to me. Though this is only a preference of mine, not an actual fact.