Note: In this story, Auron went to the Farplane and never made it to Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden. Just clearing that.

Decisions, decisions. Mickey Mouse pressed a hand to his temple while listening to Merlin. Even now, repercussions were still being felt from the War. Some worlds were blasted into nothingness; others reverted to their original state, and some, like Radiant Garden, were frozen in time.

"So, with your help, Majesty, I do have a way to free them," Merlin said.

The Mouse King pondered the prophecy again and weighed his options. There were friends in Radiant Garden, but the future Keyblade wielder would need a lot of help, and when it came to Heartless, the people of Radiant Garden were experts, experienced fighters not afraid to make a stand for what they believed in or to help their friends in time of need. His thoughts turned to his friends, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, their sacrifices to end the War, and their well-deserved rest. With that in mind, he made his decision and prayed it was the right one.

Introductions and Resemblances

Ron's eyes bulged as he took in the scenery around him. Humanoid ducks walking upright, running shops. DNAmy…these had to be her creations…so, she was responsible for all this. He followed behind Auron, who had stopped in front of a humanoid duck wearing a rather nice vest and top hat.

"I'm looking for Merlin's house; could you give us directions?" Auron asked.

Scrooge McDuck squinted at the tall man, noting his scars and the young boy with him. "It's in the borough. Take those stairs down and follow the path."

"Much obliged." Auron said as he walked toward the stairs.

Rufus sat with his head out of his human's pocket. He was taking in these strange creatures' scents, trying to figure out who was friend and who was foe. They didn't smell like DNAmy's genetic experiments, but still, no one ever got killed from being too cautious.

Auron glanced out of the corner of his good eye, making sure the boy was following him; he had no desire to hunt the boy down here. They were approaching the only house in the Borough, but suddenly, dark figures erupted from the ground, quickly surrounding them. "Heartless!" Auron yelled as he brought his blade forth.

Ron leapt forward as he summoned the blades. His eyes shined as the power flowed through him. The Heartless leapt, and he cut them down easily. Were these blasted things everywhere? Ron sliced and dodged as they kept coming, hardly taking notice the white beams attacking the Heartless. One got a little too close, raking its claws around his stomach, but he leapt back just as the Heartless was sliced apart. He wondered who had done it, as Auron was to his back and couldn't have done that without him noticing.

A young girl with black hair down to her neck, dressed in black clothes landed on the ground as she caught her weapon, a large, four-point shuriken, her eyes on Auron. Then, she caught sight of the boy in front of him and nearly collapsed in a fit of laughter.

Ron saw the girl land and sighed in relief, until she started laughing. He looked down and saw that his pants were now around his ankles. "Awwww, man!" he moaned as Rufus crawled up his leg, dragging his pants back to their original position.

Auron shook his head at the boy's misfortune before he spoke to the ninja. "Is Merlin here?"

The girl eyed Auron as she spoke, "Maybe…wait a minute!" she slowly approached Ron. Walking around him slowly, while making "hmph" noises to herself.

Auron grimaced at the ninja; he had thought that Sora had told them of their encounter. "Nevertheless, we are here and we need to see Merlin."

The girl, who had still not had the manners to introduce herself, grinned. 'Auron could give Squall lessons on being gruff and cool as ice.' She thought to herself. "Yeah, so, are you going to introduce yourselves? Who's the guy that can't keep his pants on?"

Ron groaned inwardly; why did that have to happen here of all places? Was there a curse that said that Ron Stoppable could not keep his pants up? He heard Auron give the girl his name and decided that he should as well. "I'm Stop Ronnable…I mean, I'm Ron Stoppable," he said, scratching the back of his head.

The girl stood with her arms crossed, eying the two suspiciously. They could have been spies or even Heartless or Nobodies in disguise. Her hand went back to her weapon as Auron put his right arm inside his jacket and drew out a letter. She caught it when he casually tossed it to her and, scanning the letter quickly, she sighed and said, "Pleasure to meet you, Ron and Auron. I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, 5th Level Kunoichi. Please, come inside with me."

Ron followed behind Auron, wondering what exactly he'd gotten himself into. He stared at the ninja's backside, feeling pangs of homesickness overwhelm him again. Yuffie reminded him of Yori. He had completely forgotten about Yori. Had she made it out?

Merlin merely waited as he listened to the man before him vent. He didn't blame the man; after all, it was kind of his fault. He glanced at the scar marking the man's face and stared into his blue eyes, which burned with anger and yet were so cold at the same time. This man had a hard life, no doubt about that.

Leon looked down at the powerful wizard sitting before him. Merlin looked very tired and even older than usual. Still, what was done was done. There was no changing the past, no matter how much it hurt. He paused for a few minutes to regain his composure and glanced at the door as it opened. Yuffie, great, as if things weren't bad enough already. Then, his eyes locked on the stranger in the red coat with a face scarred even worse than his. That man was no stranger to battles, and despite his left arm hanging uselessly in his coat, Leon got the impression that it did not hamper the stranger in the slightest during battle. Then, the boy walked in, a teenager like Sora was. Leon took a contemptuous glance in the boy's direction and then looked again. There was something fierce about him, despite how timid he looked at first glance. The lad had seen plenty of battles and seemed more experienced than Sora did when they first met.

Merlin stood up as Auron and the Keyblade Wielder entered the room. "Ah, this will make things simpler. Let me introduce myself. I am Merlin."

Ron blinked, "You mean Merlin, as in Merlin from Camelot?"

Merlin smiled to himself, "Why, yes! I am indeed that Merlin. That you have heard of me makes things much easier. But first, let my companions introduce themselves."

Ron introduced himself and nodded as they all gave out their names. Aerith reminded him of Mrs. Dr. P. Cid's accent put him in mind of Kim's uncle Slim, and the scarred man named Leon had Mr. Barkin's sense of world-weariness. "Okay, Ron, don't give him a funny look and everything will be fine" He swallowed as the man scowled at him. Ron laughed nervously as he backed up a few steps.

Leon frowned as the Keyblade Wielder nervously backed away from him. The boy was too timid. Sora had never been timid and, despite not having any real experience, didn't even hesitate to fight him. He turned to scowl at the old wizard as Merlin began explaining the Heartless and the Nobodies to the lad. He couldn't help it; the anger just made him lose his cool. "How long, Merlin! How long was our world frozen! Why isn't the king here! What happened to Sora!" Thrusting his right arm out in Ron's direction, he continued, "So, we're supposed to go through this all over again with this kid who, according to Yuffie, can't even keep his pants on!"

Auron sighed as he listened to the warrior rant. Though the man had a point, there was no need in taking it out on Ron. Years of being a Guardian prepared him for this, but as he moved to intercept the Gunblade Wielder, someone else beat him to it. The brunette with the green eyes who looked like she needed someone to guard her.

Aerith stepped in front of Leon, placing her right hand on his chest. Her green eyes blazing with intensity as she stared into his frozen, blue ones. "You're right, Leon; this is unfair and it is a great wrong to us, BUT that does not give you the right to take it out on that boy. He isn't at fault here; no one is, and to be perfectly honest, he's going to need our help. Yelling at him isn't exactly helping, especially when he's hurting just like you were when you lost Rinoa."

Leon glanced into Aerith's eyes, recoiling as if she had physically hit him. She was right. She always was. He glanced at the boy and noticed the sadness in the eyes, and then turned back to Aerith, "You're right." Turning to the teenager, he spoke in a firm voice, "I'm sorry."

Ron nodded at Leon, not trusting his voice. He wished he was at home. The woman's observation of him reminded him of Kim all over again. He sat down and stared at the floor, not noticing as Aerith approached him.

The pink-clad Ancient kneeled in front of the troubled lad. "We've all gone through it before. Everyone in this room has lost their world and people they cared about. It's going to be okay," she said as she wrapped her arms around him. She felt him cry into her shoulder and merely told him again that it would be okay.

Auron leaned against the wall. He understood what both the Gunblade Wielder and Ron were going through. If not for the thousand years he had spent waiting for the Keyblade to choose another master and the events that were happening on other worlds, he understood how the man called Leon felt. He was there as Sora died in bed, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Glancing at Ron, he was glad Aerith was doing this, the boy needed to get it out of his system. There was a new war about to start.