Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!

Chapter 12- Meeting Merlin the Magician

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me. Y'all got the collective brain cells of a brick if ya ain't got no clue what a navigation Gummi is." Cid eyed the Gummi block carefully. "This thingamajig here upgrades yer coordinate database for locations in known interspace… Let's ya go places where no man's been before an' all that jazz." Cid spat his toothpick out and got a new one. "In any case, it can't hurt ta' install it. Not like it'll crash the system or nuthin'."

Sora looked happy. "That means you'll install it for us, gramps?"

Cid gave Sora a death-stare for a second then grinned. "Toldja' before, kid. Need any help, and I'll lendja' some muscle. I ain't never broken a promise before. Bad for business that is." Cid grabbed something from under the counter. "Now, on the matter o' yer payment… There's a delivery job I need you kids ta' run fer me."

"Awww…." groaned Sora.

Cid towered over Sora, looking cranky. "Ever heard ta' principle of equivalent trade kid? Just shut yer trap and deliver the goods."

He held out an old book with some missing pages.

"Erk… gotcha, gramps." Sora grabbed the book and inspected it. "What's this? An exchange diary or something?"

"Arg! No!" yelled Cid. "Just bring it to that old house on the outskirts o' sector three. I'm countin' on ya ta' get it there."

*****

'Why won't you let me help, Sora? What use am I if you won't let me do anything?' thought Iji, staring out the hotel window. She thought back to when they were in Wonderland and Sora kept telling Iji to stay back and leave it to him.

Aeris sat a glass of barley tea down next to Iji. "Drink up, Iji. It'll make you feel better."

"Thanks, Miss Aeris."

Iji turned her attention away from the window and sipped the tea.

"This is nice." she said.

The brunette smiled. "Barley tea's a specialty of mine."

"Oh, Sora helped me remember something today, Miss Aeris." Iji placed the drink down and smiled.

Aeris stopped to listen. "What was it, dear?"

"He helped me remember when I first met him, when we were both little."

Aeris turned to look Iji in the eyes. "You've met Sora before?"

Iji nodded. "I met him in the…"

*****

"…Secret Place back home, doesn't it?" Kairi smiled.

"Kairi…?" Sora rubbed his eyes.

Her image melted away into oblivion.

CRASH! The wall behind Sora collapsed and a white-bearded old man stumbled through. He patted the dust off of himself and readjusted his long blue hat.

"Phew. Nearly missed my landing I did! Hah…" He spotted Sora. "Well, well. You've arrived sooner than I expected." He whisked the book away from Sora's hand. "My! The binding's as good as new! Highwind's gotten to be rather proficient at book restoration, hasn't he?"

Sora and the others watched as he opened up his bag and the place filled up with furniture.

The old man sat himself down on a chair and invited the others to sit. "The King asked that I grant you some assistance. My name is Merlin, and as you can see, I'm a magician of sorts."

"Do you know where the King is right now?" asked Donald excitedly.

"That, unfortunately, I do not know. We parted ways some time ago." Merlin flapped a hand. "I do know the purpose of his travels, though. There spreads, as we speak, a great discord across all creation. Your King seeks a means by which it might be quelled, that the end of days shan't envelop us all in darkness. In any case, he asked me to provide you all a lesson in the art of magic. Mind that you pay attention, Sora."

"Eh?" blinked Sora.

The magician placed both his hands under his chin. "You've done well yourself, learning to manipulate the Keyblade by instinct alone. But that reliance on instinct denies you the full capacity of the weapon. Conscious control of the blade's functions is essential to your cause. You mustn't forget your dream..."

Merlin positioned the book on the table.

"Oh. If by any chance you come across the pages in this book in your travels, I hope that you will save them for me. Between these covers, there once existed an entire world. It would be a crime to simply let it vanish into obscurity."

Sora wondered what happened to Kairi and Riku. Had they vanished into obscurity too?