Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or anything Disney, just Nairbix. There will also be another author's note at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!
It was the first day. In the Mysterious Tower, everyone was feeling their previous battle with the VanSulls. Seeing how no one knew where it was they were hiding, nobody knew what to do for the next three days. They had already sent word to the Restoration Committee about the upcoming attack, so their defenses were already being taken care of. In short, everyone was bored and out of ideas.
"So… anybody have any options?" Riku asked, the others just groaned for their response.
"Hey, Terra, how about we get you over to Corona to see Rapunzel?" Ven offered.
"As nice as that sounds, I can't. I've already got enough on my mind, if I go to see her now before the three days are up, I may be too distracted and lose my life. And quite frankly, I want to live so I can be with her." Terra explained sadly, but then Aqua piped up and got up from her seat.
"Well, I for one am tired of just sitting around on my butt. I say we go out to a world, one none of us have been to before." She announced.
"Oh, yeah, where?" Riku asked in a bored tone. Without saying a word, Aqua went over to the next room and naturally the others followed. In this room, there was a purple sphere sitting on a white pedestal slightly covered with dust.
"With this we can choose any world." Aqua explained, she then looked into it and browsed around, not a moment later she picked one. "How about this one? It's called Gracey Manor." She said pointing to an old spooky mansion.
"Uh, I don't know." Kairi said nervously, "It looks pretty creepy." Riku had noticed her reaction and decided to exploit it, for he knew that Kairi was very easy to scare when it came to spooky places.
"Yeah, and for a very good reason too. A long time ago, the mansion was home to the Gracey family, a very wealthy and successful upper-class family. One of the heads of this house fell in love with a maid that kept his home in order, there wasn't anything that he wouldn't do for her. But one night, Mr. Gracey found a letter written by his beloved, it said that she could not go on in life knowing that she would bring shame to her love due to her being a humble servant." By now Riku was scaring the pee out of his childhood friend as she clutched onto Sora in fear.
"After searching through the whole house, Mr. Gracey found his beloved Elizabeth, but it was too late, she had poisoned herself and died in his study. Life had become a burden to him, so without hope, without love or without Elizabeth…he hung himself." Riku said darkly before he continued, "Legend says, if you find yourself walking through the halls of the manor, you can hear his beating broken heart."
After seeing what Riku had done to the poor girl, Aqua walked behind him, pulled back her gloves and smacked Riku upside the head. "Enough, Riku! Come on, guys, we have nothing else to do. Let's just go have a little fun, okay?" Aqua pleaded, her friends had reluctantly agreed but Ventus had decided to add to his girlfriend's plea as he put an arm around her.
"She's right, guys, who knows it might be fun. And we just might find something a little more exciting than what we usually find when we're not on a mission." Hearing this, all but Riku agreed, he then stomped over to them with his finger in the air.
"Oh, no, no, no! You guys are not making this into some sappy haunted house love trip! I have had enough of all of this romance being flaunted around, and I will have none of-" While he was saying this, Aqua touched the mansion on the orb, sending them all to that destination while Riku was talking. "-it." He finished once they landed, the mansion seemed to be in very poor condition, dead branches covered most of the outer walls, and the stairs and stoop were covered in leaves.
"Well, this certainly seems like a haunted mansion." Sora said bluntly.
"Excuse me!" Someone called off to the side, it was a tall dark-skinned man dressed in an impressive business suit with a wide smile. Behind him was what seemed to be his family, his wife was dressed professionally like her spouse and their children were dressed in casual clothing, one was a preteen young girl and the other was a young boy no older than eight. "Hello, my name's Jim Evers, of Evers and Evers real state, are any of you by chance a resident or worker of this fine establishment?" Jim asked quickly.
"Um, no, we just arrived here to check this place out." Aqua answered.
"Oh, I see you must have heard about the house being for sale, didn't you, Miss…?" Jim trailed.
"Oh, please forgive my manners. My name is Aqua and these are my friends, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Terra and my boyfriend Ven." Aqua introduced indicating to each of them with her hand. Then out of nowhere, a large downpour of rain came down, everyone then rushed over to get under the roof over the entrance.
Jim had knocked several times on the large doors, hoping someone would let them all in, after a few seconds he checked to see if the doors were locked or not, surprisingly they weren't. Once the doors were opened, they all rushed in the mansion, it was an impressive home filled with antiques and suits of armor down one hallway.
"Gawrsh, this sure is one impressive mansion." Goofy said in awe at the home.
"You my friend are absolutely right." Jim agreed while wearing his big smile, he then looked around and noticed that the place could use some cleaning, "Yeah, we send a cleaning crew up here and we'll get it all taken care of. Be shining from top to bottom."
"This place smells like Grandma's house." Megan said bluntly, then her brother Michael added "Worse, it smells like Grandma."
"Boy, it would certainly take a lot of money to buy a place this classy." Ventus said bluntly. Then after a few claps of thunder, an old man who was clearly a butler, was walking down the hallway with the armor slowly and eerily.
"Sarah Evers?" He asked looking at Sarah.
"Yes, I'm Sarah." She addressed.
"My name is Ramesly." The butler replied. Jim then looked between the two and decided to introduce himself.
"Hello, Ramesly, my name's Jim Evers of Evers and Evers real estate, at your service. Oh, and these are Aqua, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Terra and Ven. They are interested in the house once it's on the market." Jim explained with his hand out, but Ramesly stood their showing no emotion.
"We were not expecting…others." He said bluntly.
"Yes, but once we saw the house we just had to see if it was available." Aqua said coming up with their cover story.
"Very well, we will have to place other settings." Ramesly replied.
Jim looked at his wife with confusion and asked the butler, "What are the other settings for?"
"Master Gracey wishes to discuss his plans over dinner." Ramesly replied as he led them all to the massive ballroom.
"Oh, I'm afraid we have made plans." Sarah reasoned, she then looked to her husband and reminded him, "Honey, we can't stay for dinner."
"Oh, yes, but we mustn't be rude darling." He joked.
"What about are family adventure?" Megan asked.
"Yeah, Dad?" Michael added.
But Jim said, "Look, we'll just have some soup and we'll be on our way, alright?" Once they walked into the ballroom, they all saw a very large beautiful table topped with delicious food and fancy tableware.
"Wow, hey, Kairi, how would you like to eat like this every day?" Sora asked his girlfriend.
"Been there, done that nearly lost my voice as a kid trying to talk to people on the far ends of the table." Kairi replied.
"The master, will be with you shortly." Ramesly addressed.
"Carry on." Jim joked, but Ramesly took it as an order and left with a bow. Seeing this, Jim looked happy and muttered, "I say "carry on" and he just walks off like that, hehe." Sarah just rolled her eyes at her husband and went to look at the grand fireplace besides the table.
"Look at the detail here, it's incredible." She stated in awe, but once again Jim decided to make a joke. "Yeah, we could have one heck of a weanie roast with this."
"Seriously, look at the design! I've never seen anything like it."
"Haven't you?" Asked a man standing next to a window, it was obviously Mr. Gracey. "My Grandfather spared no expenses when he built this mansion."
"Well, your Grandfather had excellent taste. I'm Jim Evers of Evers and Evers real estate happy to make your acquaintance, sir." Jim said with his hand out and wide smile.
"Edward, Edward Gracey." He replied not shaking Jim's hand, he then looked over to Sarah and smiled, Jim noticed this and waved for his wife to come over.
"Umm, this is my wife, Sarah. Sarah come over and say 'hi' to Mr. Gracey."
She walked over to them and replied, "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Gracey. And this is our daughter Megan and our son Michael." She said as they walked over to their parents.
Edward looked at them fondly and said, "You have very beautiful children, Mrs. Evers." The others were beginning to notice that Edward was looking more at Sarah and her kids than at Jim, in other words this was getting awkward.
"Yeah well, I kicked in some chromosomes to, heheh, ahem," Jim cleared his throat to break the awkward moment, "And these are Aqua, Ven, Terra, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku and Sora. They are interested in the house and would like to discuss business with you."
"Children, Madam, dinner is served." Ramesly announced while not addressing Jim. "The master was very pleased when he heard that you could come on short notice." Ramesly informed as he pulled out a chair for everyone except Jim. "Normally, we would not have called you so abruptly, for we had no other choice."
"What then, you've got some termites or something?" Jim joked, "A big house like this has got some termites, right?"
"No, but lately there have been more…disturbances." Ramesly replied.
"What do you think of the house, Mrs. Evers?" Edward asked.
"I think it's incredible." She replied, "Everything about it is stunning, you never see houses like this or at least I don't."
"Great care and love went into the building of this mansion. And what about you, Ms. Aqua, is the house to your liking? I only ask because if you do indeed wish to be the next owner of my estate, then I would like to know what I can do to make your future stay more comfortable, of course." Edward reassured.
"Yes, it's amazing. The detail in the design is indescribable, it's perfect for parties, holidays, friends visiting and maybe someday." Aqua carried with a nervous smile, "Raising a family."
As soon as she said this, Ventus who was drinking a glass of water, did a spit take in shock and began to choke on his drink. Terra then began to smack his best friend's back to help him breathe after hearing Aqua's idea.
"This house, is my inheritance, my birth right. But lately, it has become too much to bear. Tell me, Mr. Evers. Do you believe in ghosts?" Edward asked out of the blue.
"Ghosts? Yeah, I believe in ghosts. Although I don't think we should put that on the listings though, we should talk about how many bathrooms there are in the house. People love bathrooms, I think we should work on the whole toilet angle and save ghosts for later." Jim teased.
"The storm, has swollen the river." Ramesly informed while looking out the window.
"How's that?" Sora asked.
"The storm has flooded the road. I'm afraid, there will be no leaving the mansion tonight."
"What?!" Megan asked. Then Edward calmly said, "Of course, you are all welcome to spend the night, here."
"Oh, no, I don't really think we should, our family has plans." Sarah reasoned. But Edward would have none of it.
"I'm afraid, there is no other way," He replied dryly as a scary clap of thunder rang through the air, "Ramesly, will show you to your rooms."
And so, Ramesly escorted them all to their rooms, the Evers kids were in one, their parents in another and the young couples each received their own rooms while Riku and Terra were put together, much to their un-liking. Over in Aqua and Ventus's room, Ven was about to have one the most nerve racking conversations with his girlfriend yet.
"I know I was just making up an excuse when we got here, but I actually really love this house." Aqua said as she was brushing her hair in front of a mirror and dresser while Ven was sitting on the bed bouncing his leg. She saw him doing this and turned around to face him, "Sweetie, is something the matter? You've been acting weird since dinner."
"It's just- um, wh-what you said to Mr. Gracey…did you really mean that if you could, you would raise a f-f-family here?" Ven asked through his stuttering. Aqua looked at her boyfriend in sympathy as she walked over to sit next to him on the bed.
"Oh, babe, did I make you nervous when I said that?" She cooed playfully.
"What?! No, no, no…well, yes, a little-I mean don't get me wrong! I'm happy that you feel that way, it's just I didn't think you thought about those kind of things."
"Well, I do, and every time I do think of them, I think about you being the one I'm raising the family with." She said softly resting her head on his shoulder. "You know, a little kid or two with our features running around chasing each other or causing mischief back home or here during like the holidays with all our friends."
"Hmm, I'd like that." Ven agreed. Later on, Aqua was checking out the room's contents while Ventus was in the restroom, as she was turning around she came face to face with Ramesly and it scared the crap out of her.
"Oh, Ramesly you scared me!" Aqua gasped.
"Pardon me, madam. The Master requested that you and Mr. Evers meet him to discuss business concerning the mansion." Ramesly explained in his creepy old voice.
"Okay, great. Hey, Ven, Mr. Gracey wants to talk business I'll be back soon!" She called to her boyfriend as they left the room. Ramesly then led the two of them downstairs to the library, but it did not go without another one of Jim's awkward jokes.
"Would you care for a drink, sir, madam?" Ramesly asked as they walked into the library.
"Yes, thank you." Jim replied, but Aqua declined. "Oh, wow!" Jim said as he noticed the large painting of Edward over the fireplace, "Now that's class, that's what I should do at my place, get a big picture of myself and put on the living room wall. Adds a touch of elegance right there."
"Yes, sir. Very elegant." Ramesly dryly agreed as he hand Jim his drink.
"So, Ramesly, how long have you been a butler?" Jim asked.
"A long time, sir."
"What are some of the requirements, just in case I need to do some interviewing?" Jim asked.
"Maintaining stability, keeping order and knowing one's place." Ramesly replied.
"And what's your boss like, what floats his boat?" Jim asked. After a slight pause Ramesly replied.
"The master likes a great many things, art, literature and beauty."
"And what about that whole ghost thing, what did he get a bad shrimp in his jambalaya?" Jim asked.
"You don't believe in ghosts, sir?" Ramesly asked.
Jim waved him off and said, "Absolutely not, let me tell you something, Ramesly, the way I see it you only go around the track once, and the best way is to go all the way around."
Sir, Madam, may I confide in you?" Ramesly asked.
"Please do." Jim said.
"By all means." Aqua answered.
"The master is not well, he must leave this house and move on… it is of the gravest importance I assure you. Or I fear the very worst." Ramesly warned as he left to fetch Edward. Once he had left, Jim had decided to snoop around Edward's desk. That is until he accidently knocked over his drink making a mess on the ground, once he got up he bumped his elbow into the little man bust's head.
"Oh, cripes!" Jim whispered, but as soon as the head was knocked forwards a secret door opened behind the bookcase. "What the?" Jim asked himself as he was playing with the door repeatedly.
"Okay, Jim, I think we've established that, that is the way to open the door." Aqua said bluntly, for she found it a little annoying.
Jim then turned to her with a sheepish smile and a nervous laugh, "Heheh, it's just-you know…nifty." He said, he then made his way to the entrance that had an old stone spiral staircase.
"Interesting." Aqua stated as she walked over to it.
"I wonder where this leads to." Jim asked as he and Aqua walked into the passage. But then, the door closed behind them. "Hey! Hey, open up!" Jim shouted as he was banging on the door.
"Ramesly?!" Aqua called.
"Push back the head!" Jim called, but on the other side the room was empty.
"Will somebody push the head back?!" Aqua shouted. Jim then lit a match and made his up the stairs.
"Where's that scary old albino when you need him?" Jim muttered as they pressed on.
In another part of the mansion, Michael Evers was looking around to see if there was anything that could entertain his ten year old mind. He then walked over to the dresser and opened up an old music box, as soon as it was open, old music began to play as two figurines spun around to imitate two actual dance partners.
As he was admiring the old box, he could see a pale blue light in the mirror, he then turned around and shouted for his sister. This did not go unheard by Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Riku who busted into the room with their weapons ready, once they were in the room they saw the kids standing in the room with a floating blue and white ball in the center.
Seeing as the kids were too distracted, the two friends dismissed their Keyblades so save themselves from questions. "What is it?" Megan asked, her brother then rushed behind her and gave her an answer.
"It's a ghost ball." He whispered in fear, they then noticed the other two in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" Megan asked in a snooty tone.
"We heard your brother scream, so we came in to make sure that you two were okay." Kairi replied. The ghost ball then floated over to the kids and then slowly went over to the door.
"I think it wants us to follow it." Megan suggested while walking towards the round Spector.
Her brother tugged on her sleeve and said, "I think, you're crazy."
The ball went through the door, this only convinced the young teen that she was right. "It does, it wants us to follow it." She then went out the door to follow it, seeing this Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Riku went after her to make sure that she was safe. Now alone, Michael looked around, picked up his bag and went after the others.
"Hey, guys, wait up!" He called after them.
In another hallway, Sarah was out looking for her husband, but unbeknown to her, Ventus was sneaking around to keep an eye on her. Not because he was suspicious of her, it was Edward he was suspicious of. Ventus then noticed that Sarah was chasing after a maid, so naturally he quietly went after them.
After they made their way to the staircase, the maid vanished! Sarah then went down the stairs with Ven hiding above her from behind the old clock above the hallway that led to the ballroom, in one second she was alone, in the next after Ventus had blinked Ramesly appeared behind her and startled Sarah. It was clear to Ventus now, that Ramesly was not an ordinary butler.
"Oh, Ramesly, it's you." Sarah said after the old man had startled her.
"May I help you?" He asked.
"Yes, I was looking for my husband." She replied.
"Ah, yes. I left him and Ms. Aqua in the library, right through there." He said pointing to the entrance.
"Mind if I join you, Mrs. Evers?" Ven asked as he was walking down the stairs. "Aqua's been a while, I just want to see if business is going well enough and she can come to bed."
"By all means." She replied with a kind smile as they went to find their loved ones. As they walked through the curtain, Sarah began to talk to whoever was sitting on the red loveseat. "Honey, it's late, let's not fight anymore. Come to bed?" She offered as she was walking, but then Edward rose from the seat and startled Sarah causing her to knock over some books. "Oh, I'm sorry I thought you were my husband."
"Here let me help you with those. Ramesly hates it when I leave things lying about." Edward stated as he helped her.
"Yes, he does seem a bit proper." Sarah pointed out.
"He strikes most people that way, once you get to know him that's not the case, he's really…" Edward paused once he got a better look at Sarah, he then continued, "He's really very sweet. He's been like a father to me. Now, you came here for your husband yes?"
"Yes, Ven and I came looking for Jim and Aqua." She explained turning to where she thought the teen was but only to find him missing. "Huh, that's odd, he was here a moment ago."
"He must have left once he saw that Ms. Aqua wasn't here, she's actually taking a closer look around the house now. He must have just missed her." Edward covered.
"Mr. Gracey, may I ask you something?" Sarah asked.
"Yes of course, anything."
"This house, it's been in your family for generations, it's your home. Why do you want to sell it?" She asked.
Edward paused before he answered as though it were difficult, "These walls are filled with so many memories. Some of them painful." He then walked over to her with an offered arm and said, "I really think that the best way would be to show you." She hesitated at first but then Edward reassured her, "It's alright, you have nothing to fear with me. Although it may be a bit faded from its original grandeur, this house was filled with parties, laughter and above all hope. Being a Gracey meant that you were denied nothing, the world was yours."
"What happened here, Mr. Gracey?" Sarah asked now enticed with the story.
"She did."
"Who?" Sarah asked in suspense.
"Elizabeth, hers is the story that haunts these halls." Edward replied.
We now go to Megan, Michael, Kairi and Riku following the ghost ball to an old metal elevator, as soon as it opened Michael was beginning to walk away until his sister caught him by the shirt. The other three then began to walk into the elevator just before Michael tried to stop them.
"Guys, wait." He said, they then turned to look at him as he continued with his sentence. "You don't know when that was last inspected."
"Would you just relax, where's your sense of adventure?" His sister asked, he then walked in to join them and as soon as the doors closed he added one little comment, "This is against all my better judgment."
In another part of the mansion, the eyes in a painting of an older gentlemen were pulled back to show someone else's looking through to see if the coast was clear. The painting the opened like a door and from behind it came both Aqua and Jim. Jim had then grabbed an old candle holder and began to walk down the creepy hallway, but what they did not notice was that every painting they passed changed to a more evil and dark image. Even two very old busts had turned their heads to look at them as they passed. The next thing they saw was really shocking, an old wooden door that seemed to be breathing!
"Must be some termites." Aqua suggested as they got closer to the door.
"Some big ass termites, that's all." Jim agreed, and so they opened the door and what they found was very spooky, it was a black room and it only had a tall mirror to the side of an old telephone on a high table, and it was ringing. Jim then looked at Aqua just before he went over to answer the phone that continued to ring.
"Hello?" Jim asked once he picked up the phone, but not a second later the caller had hung up. Jim then noticed the mirror and began to check himself out and fix his suit, out of nowhere a crow had cawed surprising the two of them. They both then looked in the mirror to see their faces decayed and moldy, as though they were corpses and began to scream as they went to the ground. Once they came back up to look at themselves, they noticed that they were fine.
"Jim," Aqua began as she was catching her breath, "I'm beginning to reconsider buying this house."
"Aqua, I'm beginning to reconsider selling this house!" He added while gasping for breath.
Back with the Evers kids, Riku, Donald, Goofy and Kairi, they were following the ghost ball into the attic. It soon led them to an old crusty painting of a woman who looked exactly like Sarah. "Mom?" Megan asked once she saw the painting.
"What are you doing here?" An older man by the name of Ezra asked from behind them startling them all. "You're not supposed to be up here! This is unspeakable, unspeakable you have to leave!" Ezra warned.
"Who is that?" Megan asked.
"That's none of your business that's who. Now get out of here come on its way past your bedtime!" He ordered, then the maid from earlier appeared behind him with a tray of cookies.
"Her name was Elizabeth. Are you kids hungry, does anyone want a cookie?" She asked sweetly.
"Cookies?! Emma, don't offer them cookies, they're trespassers, trespassers don't get cookies! This is none of their concern." Ezra reminded.
"It is their concern, they're involved!" She retorted. They then heard a noise that did not sound friendly. "Hide, hide!" Emma rushed, the two of them awaited for the newcomer, it was Ramesly!
"The children are not in their rooms." He stated with anger.
"Children, what children?" Emma asked playing dumb.
"What children?" Ramesly repeated, he then noticed the tray of cookies and picked it up. "Her children, the children that she was not supposed to bring along with that brainless husband of hers and those infernal "Buyers" that showed up as well. If I had to hear one more word out of any of them, I think I would have burst!" Complained the butler.
"Of course, sir, what fools!" Ezra brown nosed.
"Did I not tell her to come alone? Is it so hard to have a little obedience, a little order?" He asked.
"Of course not, sir." Ezra reassured.
"If you find any of them, bring them to me. The final arrangements have been made, nothing further will interfere with the master's plan." Ramesly hissed.
"Certainly, sir." Ezra replied as both he and Emma bowed just before Ramesly faded away. Back with Jim and Aqua, they were following the faint voice of a woman after they had their little heart attacks.
"Thank God we heard your voice! Hey listen, we've lost our way we don't know how to get out of here! " Jim called to the open door at the end of the hallway.
"We're sorry if we sound a little frazzled, but we just had a little freak show back there!" Aqua explained with fear still in her voice as the voice kept chanting. The room was a green lit gypsy style design with a round table with a big green crystal ball in front of a tall chair, the voice could still be heard but no one was to be seen.
"Okay, I hear you but I don't see you, where are you?" Jim asked looking around. Inside the ball, the pale head of a woman could be seen.
"I am Madam Leota seer of all, voice to the spirits. Whom do you seek?" She asked them as two chairs sped down the hall knocking them both back to sit down pressed up against the table.
"Hey! Hey let us go!" Jim demanded.
"Silence! Whom do you seek?!" The gypsy head asked.
"We are seeking a way out of here!" Aqua replied.
"Then you must look within." Madam Leota replied.
"I don't want look within, I want look without are you deaf?!" Jim asked hotly.
"There is evil here, a devil's curse it seeks to destroy you." Leota explained ignoring their comments.
"Why would something want to destroy me? I'm just here to sell the house!" Jim retorted. Madam Leota then closed her eyes and began to chant.
"Dark spirits from the grave come forth. Lift us from the black and show us, show us the way back."
"Dark spirits?" Jim asked to see if he heard right, "Don't you make no dark spirits come out!" He warned.
"Lift us! Lift us up to the light! Lead us through this stormy night!" She called as they and the table rose up into the air and begin to spin.
"Hey-hey! I'd rather stay on the ground, can I stay on the ground please!" Jim pleaded as they were spinning.
"Darkness, darkness has enveloped this night, to leave you must gain new sight." Leota chanted.
"I must first gain new underwear!" Jim remarked as instruments began to play around their heads.
"Only the light will lead the way. Follow it and then you will find your way home."
"There's no place like home, there's no place like home!" Aqua recited.
"Go, Mr. Evers your family's at stake! Go, Master Aqua your friends are at stake! Your very lives are at stake, release her release us all!" Leota commanded.
"I'm so queasy, I'm getting very queasy!" They both shouted over the music and Leota's maniacal laughter. They then dropped down to the ground and ran out screaming with the instruments chasing after them. After they had finally made their way down the halls, Aqua kicked open a door ran inside and Jim closed it behind them with their backs pressed against it as the cursed instruments flew into it.
"I hate folk music." Aqua growled after all the instruments hit the door.
"Dad!" Michael and Megan called from atop the stairs in front of the two.
"Aqua!" Her friends shouted.
"Michael and Megan are you okay?" Jim asked.
"We're fine thanks." Megan answered.
"Okay, grab your things we're leaving." He informed.
"But, Dad we have a problem." Megan explained.
"What because of the rain? Look its fine, we'll just get a little wet. Let's get your mom and get out of here."
"I'm afraid that's not possible, she can't leave." Ezra denied.
"And why not?" Jim asked as Ezra appeared behind him and answered his question.
"Because she can't, look if I could tell you I would but I can't so I won't, okay?" He asked.
"How did you?" Aqua asked.
"They're ghosts, Aqua." Kairi explained.
"They're not ghosts alright, we're all just having hallucinations from that diner we ate. It was probably that chicken, it didn't taste right!" Jim declared, then Emma flew down the stairs in a wisp right in front of them with a hurt look on her face.
"Hey! It's not the chicken!" She snapped.
"Okay, fine it's not the chicken but we're still getting out of here." Aqua repeated.
"But, Aqua, we have to help them!" Donald pleaded.
"Look you can't help the dead, pal, they're beyond help." Jim said waving away their pleas.
"The man's talking sense, everyone should just keep their noses out other's business!" Ezra agreed.
"But we have to help them break the curse." Megan cried.
"Why is everyone talking about a curse?" Jim asked, "Hey wait a minute, have you been talking to that green gypsy head in the giant paperweight?"
"Gypsy? They found the gypsy, we have to go back and see her!" Emma cheered.
"Back? I'm not going back!" Jim refused.
"But, Dad!" Megan pleaded.
"Look they strapped me and Aqua to chairs and chased us around with a marching band!" Jim yelled.
"I'm not going back in there, forget it, Casper!" Aqua shrieked.
"But, Dad/Aqua, Mom/Ven is in trouble!" The kids and friends yelled at the same time.
"…What kind of trouble?" The two asked. The kids then led their father to see the old painting of Elizabeth.
"She died here in this house." Edward said to Sarah as they continued with the tour. "She was so young and so very beautiful. She was in love to the heir of this mansion."
"Your Grandfather." Sarah answered the unasked question.
"And he loved her more than life itself, but they were from different worlds and could not be together." Edward said to the woman.
"How did she die, Mr. Gracey?" Sarah asked.
"She took her own life. Poison. After that his life became unbearable, so without hope, without love or Elizabeth…he hung himself. If you listen closely, you can hear the beating of his broken heart." Edward said darkly, this whole time, like in all the other parts of the house they had covered, Ventus was hiding while eavesdropping in on their conversation. This was also being seen from Madam Leota's crystal ball by everyone else.
"So let me get this straight, this guy is dead and the only reason that we're here is because he wants to get jiggy with my wife?" Jim asked in disgust.
"Pretty much. Are you upset?" Ezra asked bluntly.
"The guy is dead and he's trying to get with my wife!" Jim cried, "And the house isn't really for sale, so yes I'm upset!"
"How romantic and sweet!" Aqua squealed with stars in her eyes, Jim looked at her with a confused look before she clarified, "Oh, not him, Jim. I was talking about Ven and how he was snooping around to make sure I was safe." She said dreamily.
"Oh, Madam Leota," Emma began changing the subject, "Is it her, is it really our dear departed Elizabeth?"
"Yes, she is here, she walks halls." The gypsy replied.
"See, I told you, it is her!" Ezra said in slight glee.
"But do not be deceived, all things are not as they appear. For the curse to be lifted the truth must be known, and for the truth to be known you must find the key." Leota explained mysteriously.
"Hey what are you talking about, ball lady, what key?" Jim asked.
"Enter the tomb under the great dead oak and travel down deep under the ground. And there you will find the key that must be found. Find the black crypt that bears no name, or soon your fate will be the same." Leota somewhat explained.
"You're telling me all we have to do is find this key, and we're all just gonna walk out of here?" Jim asked in disbelief.
"The key is the answer to all." Leota replied not giving a straight answer.
"Okay, fine then let's go get this key!" Jim said with enthusiasm.
"There's only one problem." Kairi reminded, "How do we get out of here?"
"Yeah, how do we get out of here?" Riku asked.
"Well," Ezra began, "There's always, uh, my way." And his way was driving a hearse buggy pulled by a skeleton horse through the wall with everyone sitting where the coffin should be.
"Hey, I thought you said you could drive this thing?!" Jim yelled at Ezra who said that he knew what he was doing, but after he said that he and Emma had their heads briefly taken off when they ran into a tree branch.
"Move over!" Emma yelled grabbing the reigns.
"What are you doing?" Ezra asked.
"If you keep driving you'll kill us all!"
"Well, that's where you're wrong, because some of us are already dead! Hahaha!" He retorted with a bad joke.
"Dad." Michael started.
"Yes, son?" Jim asked as they were passing the large groups of ghosts.
"I see dead people." He finished bluntly.
"Hey, isn't that Sora and Terra over there?" Riku asked, after hearing this Kairi finally lost it.
"What, Sora?! No! Not my huggy bear!" She wailed thinking Riku meant Sora was dead.
He then lightly smacked her shoulder and said, "No, I mean he's over there with Terra trying to hitchhike, alive!" Sure enough, Sora was indeed giving the hitchhike thumb with Terra and three other ghosts, although Sora had a very annoyed look on his face. Ezra then stopped the hearse and let the two living hitchhikers get on, and as soon as he got on Sora was in Kairi's embrace as she repeatedly kissed him due to her being afraid for him and herself.
"How did you guys get out here?" Aqua asked as the hearse started moving again.
"It's really a funny story, you see what happened was-" Terra began until he was interrupted by Sora.
"He fell out of a window after leaning too far out, and he pulled me out when I grabbed his ankles. We've been out here all night surrounded by all these annoying ghosts." Sora explained with a glare towards Terra. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Riku said two words that made Sora even angrier.
"Huggy bear?" He asked with a smirk.
Sora then turned to him with a death glare and said, "Shut up."
"Excuse me, why are all these ghosts still hanging around?" Jim asked.
"When they died they couldn't find the light, and now…now they're trapped." Emma said sadly.
"Doomed to wander the earth for all eternity." Ezra added trying to sound spooky. They then found their destination and stopped the hearse, but it had now gained the ghost hitchhikers from earlier.
"Whoa, hey what are you doing here?" Jim asked.
"Can they see us?" One of them asked.
"No, of course not." Another ghost replied.
"Yes, I can see you and your stupid hat!" Jim retorted.
"Don't listen to him, he's lying!" The second ghost said to his friend. Now everyone was having enough of this nonsense.
"Come on guys, let's go." Jim said as everyone got out.
"I could swear, he was looking right at me." The first ghost said.
"He's psychic." The second said in awe.
Back in the house's attic, Edward was still showing Sarah around while Ventus was still following them. "This was to be her wedding dress." Edward said once they walked up to the dress.
"It's lovely." Sarah complemented.
"It would have been lovelier still, if she ever had a chance to wear it. Now it only serves as a dark reminder, of what could have been." Edward said mournfully.
"To love someone that much and loose them so suddenly. I can't imagine how awful that must be." Sarah said sadly.
"If you truly love someone, they never leave you. They remain in your heart forever." Edward said to her trying to send the message.
Outside, the family and friends were walking through the graveyard trying to find their way to the mausoleum. Just then they heard the faint voices of people singing, in fact they were four stone busts of dead members of a quartet.
"Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize. Doom, doom, doom, doom, when the cryptos creak and the tombstones quake, spooks come out for a swinging wake." They sang until Jim interrupted them, ironically all they did was take some words from his sentences to start singing other songs that proved to be completely useless for everyone.
"Dad, there it is!" Megan called once she found it.
"Dad there it is!" The busts repeated in song as everyone ditched them.
"Thanks for nothing." Sora said still grumpy. When they had finally found the mausoleum, they had found a warning written on the door.
"Look, it's a warning." Megan informed as she read the message.
"How do you know that, Megan?" Jim asked.
"I studied Latin for three years, Dad. You said it was a dead language." Megan replied.
"It is a dead language." Sora whispered in Donald's ear.
"Beware all who enter, here lies the passage to the dead." Megan read, after hearing this Michael began to walk away.
"Hey, Michael, where are you going?" Jim asked his son as he stopped him.
"I don't like Latin." He replied bluntly.
"Hey come on, Michael listen, you're ten years old now you need to start acting like a man!" Jim encouraged.
"I just turned ten, I'm still getting used to it!" The kid retorted.
"Okay, how about this? Jim, Donald, Aqua and I will go in there to get the key, while everyone else stays out here." Sora suggested.
"Yeah, alright, good plan." Jim agreed. The newly selected party then made their way to the door as Jim grabbed a torch and Donald pulled open the heavy iron door. "Okay, we'll be right back." Jim said to his kids.
"Twenty minutes tops, right?" Megan asked while making fun of her father.
"Twenty minutes tops." Jim agreed not noticing the joke. As the four of them walked in deeper into the mausoleum Jim began to mutter to himself. "Hey, guys, what was it that gypsy told us to look for again?" He asked.
"It was a…um-uh…" Donald thought.
"A crypt with…a crypt with." Sora pondered with his arms crossed as he thought.
"A crypt with no name!" Megan shouted on the stairs behind everyone who was now either clutching their heats and/or yelling in surprise, Donald even jumped into Sora's arms.
"What's the matter with you?!" Jim asked, "You nearly gave us all heat attacks! I thought I told you to stay outside with your brother and the others."
"I figured you guys could use some help. Besides, Michael and the others are fine. She said, 'Find the black crypt that bears no name, or soon your fate will be the same.'" Megan reminded with her teenage attitude. They all began to look around until they all saw the black crypt past an old iron bridge over the water canal.
"That must be it." Jim stated.
"Good hunch, Dad." Megan said sarcastically.
"I'm officially starting to get sick of this place." Aqua and Jim said at the same time.
"And we're here because of who?" Sora, Donald and Megan asked. The other two only ignored them as Jim began to open the crypt, and when he did the smell of the decayed corpse smacked them all in the face.
"Ah, phew!" Jim complained as everyone else was gaging and covering their noses. He then began to reach into the corpse's body and pulled out the key while making plenty of fleshy crunching noises. "Okay, well that wasn't so bad now, was it?" Jim asked them all as they were walking across the bridge, but as he said that, the corpse slowly began to sit up from the crypt. Everyone had then stopped but none dared to turn around.
"Did you ever get the feeling something really bad was about hap-" Sora began before the zombie screeched at them, this caused Jim to drop the key which fell into the canal as the zombie slowly walked over to them. "Megan, go get the key, we'll handle him." Sora declared as he and Aqua summoned their Keyblades and Donald brought out his wand. Megan then ran past the zombie to the water as it trudged up towards the others.
"Take that!" Donald squawked as he sent a thunder spell to the zombie killing it a second time.
"Alright!" Jim cheered giving Donald a high-five, "Next time you'll think twice before coming back from the dead!" He then looked below at his daughter and asked her, "Did you get the key?"
"I'm looking, I'm looking." She replied.
"Take your time, we have everything under control." Sora reassured, but then the coffins in the walls began to shake and open as even more zombies woke up, some were even coming out of the wall clawing it like animals.
"Megan, you better look faster!" Jim shouted in fear. Sora and his two friends were now charging at the undead to ensure that Megan was safe as she got the key, soon even more zombies were coming from every nook and cranny of the mausoleum, even the urns were unleashing reformed burnt zombies as they fell from the wall.
While the three friends were fighting they heard a loud shrill high pitched scream, it was coming from Megan as the zombies were surrounding her. Her dad then pulled her put pf the water just before the walking dead could grab her.
"There's too many!" Sora shouted to his friends as they and the Evers made their way up the stairs, as they were running the door was about to shut on them but before it could completely shut Aqua did something unbelievable, she sent an unintentional Flux Wave out of her hand causing the door to swing wide open. They all ran outside and quickly locked the door behind them.
"Aqua…how did you do that?" Sora asked in shock.
"I-I don't know." She said looking at her hand, she then looked up at Jim and asked, "Please tell me you have the key?" Jim then started to pat himself all over until be pulled out the key from his suit's pocket. They had now left the graveyard and went back to Madam Leota's room.
"Alright, we went to hell and back to get this key, all I want to know now is where the door is out of here." Jim demanded as he held the key in front of Leota.
"First, you must find the trunk." She said curtly.
"Trunk, not door?" They all asked.
"No, not door, trunk." Leota replied with a faint smirk.
"All you said was that we needed to get this key and we got it! 'The key is the answer to all' remember?!" Jim shrieked.
"Look, I don't make the rules okay, I just work here." The gypsy defended modernly. Now everyone was having enough of this.
"Man, I've had enough of this crap!" Jim said as he picked up Leota.
"Hey, what are you doing?! Put me down! This is bad luck! This is very bad luck!" She shrieked as they were all leaving the room.
"I'll show you bad luck, I'm tired of playing around." Jim growled.
"I'm getting nauseous!" Leota yelled as they were walking down the hallway and Ezra was about to close the door. "Don't drop me, I'm very fragile!" The gypsy begged.
"Don't talk to me about feeling fragile, I'm the one that's feeling fragile right now." Jim snapped. Everyone was now looking around the attic, after a few moments Sora saw an old black trunk and asked Leota if that was it, she clarified that it was. Jim then walked over to unlock it and found the contents to be only knick-knacks and junk. "Hey, how am I supposed to know what I'm looking for? This thing is full of junk!"
"Find the thing that must be read, lest your heart be filled with dread." Leota recited.
"Wait a minute, it's a letter." Jim announced as he pulled out an old red envelope and began to read, "Yes my dear heart, I will marry you. I will love you for all eternity and tonight at last we will be together. I do. Forever yours, Elizabeth."
"She didn't kill herself." Emma said as the truth was revealed.
"She wanted to be with him." Ezra gasped.
"Well then, somebody gave him the wrong letter." Sora stated bluntly.
"Yes indeed, well done Mr. Evers. I must say I'm impressed. You all are more persistent than I ever imagined." Came a voice from the shadows, it belonged to none other than Ramesly.
"The butler did it?!" Riku asked making an unintentional joke. Ramesly then glared at Emma and Ezra and said in a menacing tone, "I will deal with you two later." And with that the two were sent away in a wisp of ghostly smoke.
"Why did you kill her?" Aqua asked in an angry tone.
"Because the master would not listen to reason. He had everything in the world, and yet he was willing to throw it all away, for love." Ramesly replied in disgust. "I did tell him, it would end badly."
"You're a real cold dude." Jim said coldly.
"No Mr. Evers, I am a rational man. It was my responsibility to the house, my duty Sir, to see to it that the boy did not make a foolish error in judgment." Ramesly explained darkly.
"And I suppose, hanging himself after he thought the woman he loved would rather die than marry him, wasn't foolish?!" Sora asked with rage.
"Running away with that girl, would have destroyed this house. It would have destroyed everything!" Ramesly retorted, "And I could not stand by and watch it all fall to ruin."
"Punch his face in, Dad!" Megan suggested.
"Yeah, but first I'm gonna tell his master what really happened." Jim threatened.
"The master must never know. Edward and his love will be reunited, and this curse will be broken." Ramesly said calmly.
"That's not her, that's my wife!" Jim yelled in Ramesly's face.
"And what she sees in you, I will never know." Ramesly said burning Jim with that remark, "But that is of little importance as of now. The only thing that matters is that the Master's pain must end. And it will end tonight, the curse will be broken and we can all finally move on."
"Alright, that's it, man." Jim said having enough of it, "Where's my wife?"
"Getting ready for her wedding, of course." Ramesly said smugly.
"What wedding?! He can't marry her, he's dead and she's not!" Jim shouted.
"True. But that can easily be corrected. Life I'm afraid, is such a delicate state." Ramesly informed evilly with a smile.
"Man, you touch one hair on my wife's head and I'll kill ya!" Jim shouted as he swung his fist through Ramesly several times.
"How wonderful." Ramesly teased, "You're going to kill a ghost." Jim's kids then dared to shout at Ramesly, but he simply pulled a trunk under their legs and trapped them inside. Even the Keyblade wielders were being held back by a swarm of spirits.
"You're gonna let my kids out of here, you're gonna let my friends go, you're gonna take me to my wife and you're gonna show us the way out!" Jim ordered from the ground.
"You want out? Fine, let me show you out." Ramesly complied as he picked up Jim by the throat and began to hover up to the attic window. "Now for the last time, goodnight Mr. Evers." And with that, Jim was thrown out the window. Ramesly then floated back down and towered over the warriors of light, "As for you." He began darkly, "I suppose every wedding does require…groomsmen and bridesmaids."
As of now, Edward had finished his tour with Sarah back in the ballroom hoping that she would "remember" it all as Ventus followed them.
"This house has waited so long to have its shroud of darkness lifted. And tonight, for the first time in, oh, so many years, I believe it might be possible, that the story will end differently." He said in a spooky voice. "Sarah, do you believe that love is about second chances? About forgiveness?" He asked with hope in his voice.
"Yes, I do." She replied not seeing where this was going.
"Don't you remember?" Edward asked.
"Remember what?" Sarah asked now in shock, "Mr. Gracey, are you alright?"
"Don't you recognize me at all?!" Edward asked in frustration, "I thought certainly, bringing you back to Gracey Manor would help you remember."
"Remember what, Mr. Gracey, you're scaring me." Sarah said in nervous fear, Ventus was watching the whole thing play out from outside the main doors. Edward then grabbed her arms and looked straight into her eyes as dozens of ghosts were dancing around them.
"Where it happened! Where we spent our last moments together. Where we danced together for the last time before…before you killed yourself! But now you've returned to me, and at long last we can be together. Why do you not remember?! You were my world, my life! And I have loved you in death as I did in life!"
"Let me go!" Sarah shouted breaking free and running out towards her room.
"Why do you not remember?!" Edward called after her. As she was running up the stairs, Edward met up with her and continued to talk with her as she was running. "You are her, you are Elizabeth you must be! Can you not sense it? Search your heart, I am your one true love. And now we can finally be together, don't you understand?"
As Sarah kept running through the hall, Edward's voice echoed as all of the doors locked. "Elizabeth, you must listen to me."
"I'm not Elizabeth!" Sarah shouted as she kept running.
"Please, I implore you." Edward begged as his heart was breaking. She then shut the door in his face, after experiencing this heartbreak, Edward began to break down. "She doesn't remember. It can't be her."
"It is her, sir." Ramesly said behind him. "The gypsy woman prophesied her return, and now the time has come. You had best get ready." He said fixing his Master's collar.
"But she doesn't remember." Edward hissed.
"In time she will, sir. I assure you." Ramesly said, Edward then began to walk away. Once Ramesly was finished with Sarah he made his way down the stairs, he then came face to face with Ventus leaning against the banister with his arms folded.
"You know? I can understand where it is Edward is coming from. Wanting to be with the woman you love and going against all obstacles to get to her." Ven said calmly looking at Ramesly, "But trying to marry another man's wife? That's just sick." He spat.
"Is there a point to this little conversation we are having, Sir?" Ramesly asked. Ventus then glared at the butler and replied, "I want you to take me to where Aqua is, now."
"But of course, sir. It would be my pleasure." Ramesly said tauntingly, he then snapped his fingers and in a wisp of ghostly smoke they were gone.
Not too later, everyone was in the ballroom, Edward was standing at the base of the stairs dressed in a officers uniform with a sword, while Ramesly was dressed in the robes of a priest with a staff in one hand and a Bible in the other.
Even Ezra was dressed formally with a top hat while playing the wedding march off key. As for the others, Kairi and Aqua were dressed in knee length blue dresses as the bridesmaids with flower wreaths on their heads, and bouquets of flowers in one hand while their boyfriends had their arms looped through each other's. The boys and Donald and Goofy were all wearing black tail coats and white gloves. In front of them was Sarah dressed in Elizabeth's white wedding dress.
"This is so terrible." Aqua whispered to Ventus as they were slowly walking down the aisle.
"I know, I can't even begin to imagine what's going through her mind right now." Ven replied, he then checked his girlfriend out in her dress and tried to lighten the mood. "I know this isn't the right time, but you look beautiful in that dress." He complemented, when he said that, the item in his pocket grew even heavier than it was before. Aqua then looked into his eyes and whispered three words that never lost their meaning when either one said it the other.
"I love you."
"I love you, too." Ventus said sincerely. Edward looked to his old friend with a confused look on his face when he saw the visitors.
"Volunteers." He replied calmly. Once Sarah had made her way up to Edward, he noticed that she was crying. He then turned to Ramesly again who said in the same tone, "Tears of joy."
"Elizabeth?" Edward asked with his hand out for her. She looked to Ramesly who only stared at her.
"Yes, my love." She replied through her tears. And so the ceremony started.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God to join this man and this woman in the bonds of holy matrimony." Ramesly began. "Wilt thou, Edward Gracey, take this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holiest state of matrimony?"
"I will." Edward answered in happiness.
"And do you, Elizabeth Henshaw, take this man to be your lawful husband, to love and cherish in death as you did in life?" Ramesly asked already knowing the answer.
"I do." She said in a shaky voice. Ramesly was now preparing the wine laced with poison for Sarah to drink out of everyone's eyes.
"From this day forward, you shall be joined together as one for all eternity until the very end of time. What God has joined together let no man cast asunder." Ramesly recited as Sarah was about to drink the wine. "If anyone has any objections?" Ramesly asked, then the doors were kicked open by none other than, Jim Evers of Evers and Evers real estate!
"Yeah I got a few objections!" He shouted. The warriors then jumped over to his side with their weapons ready as Sarah ran over to her husband. "The next time I say we're going to the lake, we're going to the lake." He informed.
"Get away from her." Edward growled. "I lost her once, I don't intend on losing her again."
"This is not Elizabeth, Ramesly tell him the truth!" Sora yelled to the butler.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied.
"Oh, now you have amnesia, huh?" Jim asked.
"Elizabeth didn't kill herself, he did it! He's been lying to you all along." Aqua shouted but Edward would not listen to any of them.
"I'm warning you, sir." Edward said unsheathing his sword. "Step away."
"Do you really think that, just because you're already dead and you have a sword you can beat us?" Riku asked bluntly.
"My patience is wearing thin. Elizabeth, please, come along." Edward said to her.
"I'm not Elizabeth." Sarah repeated.
"You must be." Edward insisted.
"Her name is Sarah, Ramesly wants you to think she's Elizabeth so this curse would be lifted." Jim explained.
"That is absurd." Ramesly defended.
"Forgive me." Edward growled at Jim raising his sword.
"Hey look if you want to kill me, kill me. But just know, that when I come on the other side, I'm gonna be whooping your ass for all eternity." Jim warned as he pulled out the letter, "So maybe you should read this before you go and stab somebody."
"What is it?" Edward asked.
"It's Elizabeth's letter, her real letter the one you never saw because Ramesly stole it!" Terra said to the dead man. Edward then took the letter and read it for himself, he then looked up at Ramesly in shock.
"What is the meaning of this?" He croaked.
"Must we continue to listen to the ramblings of these lunatics?" Ramesly asked calmly.
"But it is written in her hand!" Edward retorted.
"Yeah, it's written in her hand, how do explain that one, Ramesly?!" Donald asked.
"Well?" Edward asked.
Ramesly just stood there and sighed, "Your union was unacceptable. I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen."
"So you killed her." Edward finally said.
"I told you it would be a mistake running off with that girl." Ramesly insisted. Then Kairi gave a loud gasp and shouted at the old man once she put the pieces together.
"You racist old bastard!" She shouted as everyone realized she was right.
"But I loved her! Was love my mistake?!" Edward shouted.
"YES! I tried to protect you. All these years, I've sacrificed for you. But what would you understand about sacrifice, duty or honor? You loved her. Well, damn you, damn you all to Hell!" Ramesly roared as the lights flickered and the storm returned and the evil ghosts arrived. Before anyone could retaliate, the fireplace's floor crumbled and reveled a fiery inferno that came from Hell itself. From this fire, a great serpent of flame came and grabbed ahold of Ramesly with its tongue, as it grabbed him he took hold of Jim's leg and pulled him into the fireplace.
"Not happening!" Sora yelled as he threw his Keyblade at Ramesly's arm cutting it off, now the dead butler was screaming as his soul was being burned as it was dragged to Hell.
"Mom!" Megan and Michael yelled as their mother fell to the floor.
"Sarah!" Jim shouted as he rushed to his wife. "Sarah, talk to me what's wrong?!"
"It's the poison!" Ezra cried. After begging his wife to pull through, Sarah only muttered her husband's name as she took her last breath. A few moments later, the ghost ball came down and began to float towards Sarah's body. It then embedded itself in her, causing her body to glow and rise up into the air. And then a bright light shined through the ceiling, everyone then looked up to see not the roof, but an endless sky and white clouds shining with a bright light, it was Heaven.
Riku looked up and pointed one finger at the sight and said only one word that could best describe what was happening. "Whoa." Sarah then rose to the air with her arms spread out looking down at them all.
"Elizabeth, is that you?" Edward asked, and this time he was right.
"Yes, my love." Elizabeth replied with a warm smile.
"The ghost ball was Elizabeth." Megan stated in awe.
"The truth had to be known for me to be released. He saved me." She said towards Jim.
"It was nothing." He quickly waved off.
"Oh, Elizabeth, I have waited so long for this moment." Edward said happily.
"And now, only Heaven awaits." She said right before they kissed passionately. The Evers kids looked at their father to see if he was going to do something.
"No, he's not really kissing your Mom." He said to them only to receive raised eyebrows. He then tapped Edward on the shoulder and said, "Hey, that's my wife." He then looked at her and asked, "Sarah?" She then fainted and returned to being Sarah as Elizabeth left.
"Jim?" Sarah asked as she regained consciousness.
"I thought I lost you." Jim said as he hugged his wife.
"Can you ever forgive me?" Edward asked as he walked over to them.
"What's there to forgive, you loved her." Jim replied. Edward then walked over to Aqua wrapped around by Ven's arm, he pulled out an old rolled up piece of paper and gave it to her.
"What's this?" She asked.
"The deed to the house. It's yours, do what you will with it. Keep it, sell it do whatever makes you and your friends happy." He said as he walked into the light with Elizabeth. "And thank you. All of you, so much." And with that, the two departed lovers were lifted up to the light as ghost balls and ascended into Heaven."
"Wait! Wait for us, hold on!" Emma shouted while carrying her own and Ezra's luggage.
"What's all this for?" Ezra asked.
"Well, I don't know what we'll need." She retorted.
"What are you talking about? We're going to Heaven, you can't take it with you." Ezra tried to explain, but Emma pushed past him and snapped while giggling, "The hell I can't!" And after they all said their goodbyes to their dead friends, the two ascended into Heaven with all the other souls that resided in Gracey Manor.
"Well then, it looks like everything is finished here. Come on guys let's get packed and go to the lake." Jim said to his family while leading them out of the ballroom.
"Well, not everything." Ventus muttered nervously. Everyone had heard him though and wondered what he meant.
"What do you mean, Ven?" Aqua asked. He took a deep breath and worked up his courage.
"Aqua, I've been thinking about this for a while, and right now after everything that happened tonight…I'm ready to do what I've been meaning to do for the past few weeks." Everyone was now on edge waiting to see where this was going. "Aqua, you have always been there for me, eleven years ago you and I lost each other. But then nearly two years ago, we found each other again and since then I have never been happier. I have loved you since the moment I first met you and I will love even in my last moments and beyond that. Aqua…" He began as he got down on one knee and pulled out a small velvet box with a beautiful diamond ring in it. "Will you marry me?" He asked. Everyone gasped at the sudden proposal, Aqua was of course speechless, with her hands covering her mouth and her eyes glistening with tears of joy. She then slowly nodded her head before giving her answer through her tears.
"Yes." She sobbed, Ventus then picked her up and spun her around in his arms and pulled her into a deep and loving kiss while their friends were clapping.
"Hey, I just got a great idea!" Sora cried startling everyone.
"What is it?" Goofy asked.
"Why don't we have the ceremony here and now? A Keyblade Master is technically qualified to marry someone, kinda like a ship's Captain." Sora explained.
"Well, what do you think?" Ventus asked his new fiancé.
She looked up at him with a warm smile and said to her love, "Let's get married."
"I call dibs on marrying them!" Riku yelled raising his hand, he then turned to Sora and pointed his finger at him with laughing smugly. Things were now set up similar like the previous ceremony. Riku was in front of the organ while Goofy was playing the wedding march, and Ventus was standing next to him each one with a smile on his face. Everyone else was now walking down the aisle with Aqua at the end, once everyone made their way to the sides as Aqua walked up to the alter.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here on this day to witness the union of these two warriors of light in holy matrimony." Riku said with pride as he married his two friends. "If there is anyone who is against this union, speak now or forever hold your peace." No one replied so Riku carried on. "I understand that the bride and groom have their own vows, so, if you please." He said to the two lovers, Ventus was first.
"Aqua, when I first met you I was a broken empty shell of who I once was. I could barely even form a sentence, but over the years with you and Terra it made me who I am today, a man who will never stop loving you. When we came to this house, you brought up raising a family here and I was shocked. But as long as I can make that family with you and spend the rest of my life with you, I don't care if it's here in this old mansion or back home. I will always love and cherish you wherever we are." Ventus said warmly, now Aqua, Kairi and Donald were trying not to cry.
Now it was Aqua's turn, "Ven, over the years that I've known you, you have proved to be a trouble making goofball. But that is just one of the many things that I love about you. It is true that I lost you so long ago, but then when I found you I could finally embrace my feelings and give you my love. You have me and my heart forever, I love you so much." She said nearly losing it like all of her friends.
"Okay, this is getting too mushy." Riku muttered as his eyes were beginning to water. "Do you, Aqua, take this man to be you husband?"
"I do." She replied with an unbreakable smile.
"And do you, Ventus, take this woman to be your wife?" Riku asked his voice starting to crack.
"I do." He answered.
"Your destinies were first joined through friendship, now your love and hearts will be as one. By the powers vested in me, as Keyblade Master, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Riku said proudly, he turned to Ventus and said, "You may kiss your bride." And so he did with everyone cheering.
"I promised myself I wouldn't cry." Donald said struggling to keep his promise.
"I didn't." Goofy said right before he began to sob and sniffle loudly, he then grabbed Donald's hat and blew his nose into it covering it in snot and put it back on his friend's head.
"Alright, we'll pour the wine later, let's get out of this creepy place already!" Riku shouted, everyone agreed. As they were about to go out the front door, they stopped once they heard a very scary woman's voice.
"Hurry back. Hurry back. Be sure to bring your death certificates." It called and ended with frightening laughter. Now everyone was screaming the one word that had crossed their minds all night at the top of their lungs.
"GHOST!"
I bet no one was expecting that movie to be in this fic! I have to say, this one was good but it really didn't get much recognition. I bet you also didn't expect me to have Ven and Aqua married in the mansion and own it, too! Anyway, the next chapter will be a bit shorter, but it will answer so many questions. Next time, you will finally know what happened to Nairbix.