Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts in no way belongs to me. Well, technically Dayna and El and Mai belong to me, and they're now a part of KH, so I guess I do own part of Kingdom Hearts in a way…? Just kidding, I don't.
So. Sorry about the lack of update the past few months.
On a side note, Shattered Hearts is making me want to puke. Everything is one big romantic cliché, and I am deeply grateful to those of you who read it anyways. Someday I'll go back and revise it. Until then, enjoy!
Chapter 5:
The sound of the quintets' footsteps echoed down the hallway until the five all came to a stop in front of a door. Sora, ever the curious one, gingerly rested his hand on the knob. He let out a shout of alarm as the door swung open and nearly hit him in the face. Luckily, he managed to stagger back in time.
Once he saw that there were no more dangers to his face, the boy peered through the doorway and saw that there were three doors in total, all shrinking in size from the one he had just opened.
Sora scratched his head. "This world is strange."
El snorted. "Yeah, yeah: we've been over this. Let's get a move on, please."
Sora glared balefully at the cynical girl but still moved forward into the next room. Once there, he halted in place and felt his eyes widen at what he saw.
"Now, what's the hold up?" El nudged her way past him and inspected the space herself. "Huh. That's interesting."
"What is?"The other three entered last, not knowing what to expect.
"Um, I think we're a little too big for this room…" Dayna mentioned needlessly, wincing as Goofy bumped his head on the ceiling. ("Ouch!")
"Try a lot too big." Donald hissed, kicking the wall.
As soon as he did so, a voice cried out angrily from below them. "Hey, watch it! That hurt!"
Startled, Sora summoned his Kingdom Key. "Who's there?"
He received an irritated huff in response, but that was all.
Goofy took a more gentle approach. "Gawrsh, we're sorry for hurting you, sir. Could you please show us who you are?"
"I'm down here, you behemoths."
Dayna crouched down to the source of the sound incredulously: it was a talking doorknob. That's not something you see everyday. "Um, how do we, er, get down to your size, sir?"
The doorknob yawned, and then eyed them speculatively. He seemed to reach some sort of decision. "Why don't you try that bottle over there?"
The five turned to face where he was gesturing. Before their eyes, a table rose up from the floor with two bottles literally poofing on top of it.
Donald twisted back around sharply, ready to fire a question at the doorknob, but wilted when he saw that he was blissfully asleep. "Aw, phooey. Now, what are we supposed to do?"
"Maybe drink the bottle?" Dayna asked, being unintentionally sassy. She ignored the slightly offended duck and instead focused on the two containers. "But, how do we know which one is which?"
El walked over to the table and tried to pick up one of the bottles. "Well, this one's stuck to the table." She shook it for emphasis. "So it must be the other one."
Goofy, who was still on the floor, leaned against a bed in the corner. "I don't know, fellas. Do ya think it's safe?"
"Well, it's all we've got." Sora stated with a shrug. "What's the worse that could happen?"
Goofy, reassured by the teen's words, nodded and pushed off the bed to get up from the floor. As he did so, however, the bed slid sideways into the wall, causing the dog to stumble to his feet. On the wall perpendicular to where the bed was now painted on was another doorway leading into darkness.
"Okay, so I guess that's where we're going, then." Sora blinked at the new passage before screwing the lid off the bottle. Before he could take a sip from it, however, El grabbed it from his hands.
"Ladies first, kiddo." She took a small sip to ensure that there was enough for everyone else to take after her. Her eyebrows rose in surprise at the pleasant taste. "Not bad. Tastes like vanilla."
The good news was that within seconds after speaking, El began to shrink and shrink until she was the size of a mouse. But, the bad news was that several miniature Heartless appeared around her. A series of squeaky expletives came out of her mouth, and the other four could barely pick out the words for them to "get a move on."
Sora needed no further encouragement. He gulped down the contents of the bottle, which had refilled itself slightly from when El had drank some, and then joined the older girl on the floor.
"About time." She scoffed, viciously taking out a Soldier.
"We only took a couple seconds." Sora protested, letting out a yelp as a Red Nocturne sent flames spiraling his direction. Subsequently, he ducked and then sent a nod in relief to Donald, who had extinguished the Heartless with ice magic.
"We all here?" Donald asked. At this point, the opponents had all been disposed of. "Dayna? Goofy?"
"Present!" Goofy cheered.
Donald cocked an eyebrow. "Then where's Dayna?"
"Over here!"
She was already by the doorway, but in going over to it directly she had separated herself from the group. A Blue Rhapsody took advantage of this fact and rapidly zoomed in on her.
Donald took a step forward, alarmed. "Dayna, watch out!"
The girl narrowed her eyes at the enemy and tried to calm the wave of panic that was rising up in her. Her sweaty hands clutched Dreams Equinox in preparation as she figured out what to do. The Heartless was too high for her to reach with her keyblade, but maybe she could try to use her new fire magic.
But, could she do it? Did she even know how to do it?
"Dayna! Imagine fire coming out of your keyblade!" Donald had read her mind.
She gulped, but took a deep breath in and thought about flames coating her weapon. She imagined heat emanating from the cool metal, and then let her breath out resolutely.
Dayna opened her green eyes to reveal a reflection of white flames dancing on their surfaces. Quickly, she adjusted her grip on Dreams Equinox and held it as if it were a rifle. With one eye closed and the other squinted, the girl fired off a ball of blinding fire at the Blue Rhapsody and then slowly lowered her weapon. The Heartless rolled over midair before fading into nothing. Evidently, her magic had been rather strong.
"I did it!" Dayna smiled exuberantly, banishing her keyblade. Suddenly, to her dismay, a wave of exhaustion swept over her, causing her knees to quiver. "Woah. Wasn't expecting that."
Donald scurried over hurriedly and jabbed an ether into her hands. "I didn't think you would use up that much power on your first go." He flapped his wings at her forehead as she sipped at the liquid. "Dayna, that was foolish of you to do!"
Said girl looked at her feet: however, Donald wasn't finished.
"But…" He coughed into his wing. "It was very good magic. I'll give you some private lessons when we get back to the gummi ship." The duck spun around and waddled to the doorway, feeling flushed under his feathers. "Now let's go see where that rabbit went!"
"Can I get private lessons too, Donald?" Sora bounded after the irate duck. Donald only increased his pace.
"We'll just have to see."
"Aw, but that's not fair!"
"Deal with it!"
Dayna, El, and Goofy exchanged amused glances and followed the two quibbling boys down the dark hallway. Their ruckus ceased, however, when the five emerged into what appeared to be an outdoor courtroom. Directly in front of them was a podium where a little blond girl stood, and in front of her was what could only be described as a throne, where a toad-like woman sat pompously. On either side of the throne were two other podiums - one upon which the rabbit stood.
El's eyes immediately zeroed in on the rabbit, which pulled out a trumpet and blasted the most god-awful noise out of it. He then rested back on his laurels, appearing to be rather relieved. "Court is now in session!" He wheezed out.
"Um, what?" Dayna whispered into El's ear. The older girl hushed her: her interest peaked for once.
"I'm on trial? But why?" The little blonde girl cried confusedly.
The rabbit cut her off. "Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!"
The toad-like woman arose from her throne, clutching her staff with her stubby little fingers. "This girl is the culprit! There's no doubt about it." She slammed her fists on the table. "And the reason is…"
Sora leaned forward earnestly.
"… Because I say so, that's why!"
Sora slumped back, aghast.
"That is so unfair!" The blonde girl exclaimed.
"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?"
"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!"
El snorted sardonically. "Well, so much for evidence."
"You may be queen," The girl continued, "but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so… so mean!"
"SILENCE!" The queen thundered, flecks of spittle blasting out of her mouth. ("Oh, she's done it now." El muttered.) "You dare defy me?"
The poor girl quivered in her little white stockings, and that was when Sora decided to be Mr. Hero.
"Hey guys, maybe we should help her out."
Dayna nodded fervently. "I agree with Sora."
"Yeah, but the – " Donald began to say before getting cut off by Goofy.
"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?"
"Meddling." El corrected, her stony gaze still fixed on the scene in front of her.
"Yes, meddling." The duck crossed his wings, jerking his head decisively. "And that's against the rules."
"Yeah, well, forget the rules." Dayna spoke up. "This is a real girl in front of us, about to be condemned for a crime she didn't do. How could we possibly ignore that?"
The other four were stunned into silence.
"The court finds the defendant guilty as charged!" The queen declared gleefully. "For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart." She paused for dramatic effect. "Off with her head!"
Immediately, several human-sized cards swung into action. Dayna flinched: in her initial eye sweep of the room, she had assumed that they had all been inanimate objects. Apparently, that was not the case.
"Guys…" Dayna uttered urgently.
Sora looked rather constipated as he bit his lip. He reached a decision and literally sprang into action, shoving all the cards out of his way. "Hold it right there!"
"Oh no…" Donald groaned. He had no choice but to waddle after the boy, Goofy and Dayna on his heels. El followed behind at a more leisurely pace, flicking her gaze back and forth between the card soldiers: at the moment they seemed stunned into silence, but one could never be too sure.
The queen leaned forward contemptuously, hardly believing her eyes. "Who are you?" She sneered. "How dare you interfere with my court?"
"Excuse us. But we know who the real culprit is." Sora declared.
"Uh-huh. It's the Heartle-" Goofy cut himself off at Donald's fiery warning glare.
"She's not the one you're looking for." Dayna dared to speak up. She flushed deeply when the court's attention swung to her.
The queen smiled evilly. "Nonsense. Have you any proof?"
Sora and Dayna faltered. "Er…"
Thank god I'm here. El stepped forward. "We'll have some for you by the end of the day. Until then," She summoned Dreams Dusk as a subtle threat, "please don't make any rash decisions."
Finished with what she had to say, the older girl swung around and casually walked towards a doorway she had spotted in the hedges.
"B-bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" The queen spluttered. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads!"
El sighed to herself and stopped at the doorway. "We heard you the first time, lady." She turned her head around to look at the others in the group. "Are you guys coming or not?"
Shocked, the four promptly stumbled over to where she was, and with a smirk, El left the courtroom.
"Insolence!" The queen screeched as they made their hasty exit. "I'll have you on trial next, brat!"
Her yells faded into the background and Dayna heaved a sigh of relief. "El, you must have some kind of death wish."
The girl banished her weapon nonchalantly, hating the twinge of pain that followed after she did so. Not a death wish – just nothing to lose. She thought bitterly, not wanting to say it out loud.
She creased her eyebrows in confusion. Since when did she care about what she did or didn't say?
"Since never." El muttered to herself, still wondering why and when that change had occurred. Huh. Go figure.
"Sorry, what was that?" Sora asked, not entirely paying attention: his eyes were exploring the queer new room.
El blinked, and then shook her head. "Nothing. It was nothing."
Dayna eyed her speculatively but let it go. "So, where do we begin, then?"
"Let's start by – WAK!"
A giant feline head with a body balanced on top of it blurred into existence a foot away from the duck's face. The obnoxiously colored cat giggled and casually tossed his head back around the right way, then crossed his arms.
"Who are you?" Donald demanded as he tried to smooth his ruffled feathers – and his pride.
The cat tilted its head. "Who, indeed?" He leaned forward and curled his head on his paws. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"
"Good job with deflecting the question." El deadpanned. "Now, do tell, who are you?"
"Ahem." Donald coughed. "More importantly, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!"
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers – but doesn't always tell. But, the answer, the culprit, and the cat all lie in darkness." He bent forward, focusing on El. "And so does your flame." He grinned at the alarmed expression on the girl's face and then disappeared. "There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all." His voice echoed around the room before silence fell.
The main thought in El's mind was one of disbelief. For the first time in years, her lips formed his name. "Lea."
Her heart thrummed in her chest – wild with hope. Did that cat know where he was? What had happened to him after the destruction of Radiant Garden? Was it even possible that he had survived? Eyes wide, she clenched her fists so tight that she could have sworn that she popped a vessel. This was the first lead she had ever gotten on one of her friends aside from Dayna appearing with Mai's scarf in Traverse Town.
She could find him: that cat had proved that she was not investing in a lost cause. If Lea was out there, god, she would be overjoyed. Maybe even back to who she used to be.
But, she knew that she couldn't lose herself in nonsensical thoughts. If she did that, she would certainly lose her mind – no doubt about it.
"El, what did he mean by 'your flame'? And who's Lea?" Sora inquired obliviously.
"Let's just focus on the mission." She dodged. "Then, we'll find that damn cat and interrogate him."
Sora flinched back at the venom in her words. "O-okay."
Goofy decided to step in to clear the air. "Gawrsh, you think we can trust him?"
"We don't really have a choice." Dayna exhaled. "Should we split up?"
"I'm not sure about that." Donald hedged uncomfortably. "This is a weird world, not to mention that it's the first one we've landed on as a group."
El contemplated this. "Yes, that may be true, but since it's such a weird world, shouldn't we want to get off of it as soon as possible?" No one protested to that statement, so she carried on. "You boys stick together, and I'll take Miss Pyro, here."
At their indecisive looks, she decided to make it a little more interesting. "Whatever team gets the most clues will win something."
Donald was instantly fired up. "What do we win?" He rubbed his hands together greedily. "Munny? Potions?"
"How about I cook my specialty for dinner tonight, and only the winning team will get dessert. That good enough?"
The boys exchanged glances and reached a decision. "Be ready to lose!" Sora declared. "On your marks – "
El grabbed Dayna's hand and hauled them out of there before he could finish his sentence. "Uh, bye, then!" Dayna waved at the trio with her free arm then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "El! What's that over there?"
The older girl released her arm and crouched next to the conspicuous pink box that Dayna had pointed out. She tapped it with her finger cautiously, but picked it up when she heard a noise coming from inside. She cocked an eyebrow incredulously. "Are those… footsteps?"
Dayna came up beside her and leaned in. "They sound a lot like the way a Heartless moves. You know, kind of skittish and random."
El ruffled the girl's ponytail. "Well, I guess we just found our first piece of evidence, then."
"Heh, we'll show those boys who's boss!" Dayna fist pumped the air excitedly. "Come on, El, we've gotta keep going!"
"Hey, woah, there, pony." El yanked her back at the sudden rumble beneath her feet. "Did you feel that?"
Dayna shook her head and then jumped in shock when she heard a loud stomp, followed by a tremble. "I felt that."
The girls swapped glances and simultaneously crept over to where the noise was coming from.
What they saw was something that they had definitely not been expecting. A giant Sora was the origin of the mini earthquakes and he was currently whacking a tree with his similarly enlarged Kingdom Key. He let out a cry of triumph when the trunk swung around and Donald and Goofy, who were still normal height, trotted over to where his yellow clompers were.
"Sora, what are you doing?" Dayna restrained her giggles.
"Hitting a tree." He replied vaguely, not wanting to give away any information. "To beat you."
"Any evidence yet?" Dayna retaliated smugly.
"It's only been five minutes! How could we have possibly gotten any yet?" Donald squawked.
At this, El stepped forward, tossing the box in the air teasingly. "Your inadequacy amuses me, duck boy."
One could almost see Donald's face catching fire. "Y-you-!" He quickly turned to Sora. "Sora! Get small again, now!"
"Aye-aye!" Sora saluted. "But, uh, how do I do that?"
"Maybe you should listen to one of them flowers again." Goofy pointed at one of the blossoms. He covered his mouth as his partners gave him dirty looks. "Oops!"
"Flowers, huh?" El took his words in. "We'll keep that in mind." She turned towards Dayna. "Let's get going on that pathway they've just opened up."
"Hey!" Sora protested. "Can't I at least get a thank you? Or some help?"
Dayna took pity on him. "Maybe try eating that fruit on the branch."
Sora's face brightened. "I didn't see that! Thanks!"
"Yeah, yeah." El had to grab the other girl again. "Good job helping the enemy." She deadpanned.
Dayna, who chose to ignore her, gently tugged her arm out of El's tight grip and focused on a dark hole in the hedge wall that she hadn't seen before. Thanks to whatever Sora had just done, there was now a platform leading up to it.
"I think we might need to do some climbing." Dayna gestured meekly at the fungi ahead of them with a wearied expression.
El groaned inwardly at the sight of them, but readied herself on the outside. "I've never liked mushrooms." She muttered before gripping the rubbery edge. "Well, here goes nothing."
Yay! Chapter 5 is done after… two or three months now? Sorry about that.
I would love to hear your thoughts :) Do you really think the Chesire Cat knows where Lea/Axel is? Or do you think he's just bluffing?
I'm having way too much fun with writing El's sardonic character. But, both she and Dayna are starting to have some character development. Baby steps, people; baby steps.
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- SoraMaiDay