"Sorry..." Niko said, walking into the Gummi Ship cockpit. "I guess I'm just ready to ghet this journey started. After all of this, I hope we can relax though."
"Well at least lemme get your names?" Jiminy asked.
"I'm Niko." Niko replied.
Sapphire was a lot less eager than Niko. She followed him into the cockpit and sat in the copilot's seat. She did a lot of swearing and mumbling under her breath, before stopping abruptly to give her name.
"Sapphire," she grumbled.
"It's nice to meet you both." Jiminy said happily. "Well let's get going shall we?"
"Yeah!" Niko said as he started the Gummi Ship and took off. "WHere should we head to first, Jiminy?"
"Well let's head to Castle of Dreams first." Jiminy said. "Should be a simple enough place to start. We should check on Cinderella first."
Sapphire mumbled something under her breath about castles and dreams. The only real audible part of it was her string of curse words. She put her feet up on the dash and folded her arms in a disgruntled way.
'I'll go to this castle,' she thought, 'but I won't like it.'
"Good to see that you are at least complying." Niko said. "Let's go!"
Niko landed in the glen near the castle and he sees Cinderella sitting there with the prince. Niko smiled at this sight and it reminded him of him and Sapphire. Suddenly monsters show up and jumps at them. Niko rushes in and slashes them..
"Both of you run!" Niko said. "Find somewhere safe!"
They both nod and run. Niko knew that sapphire would rather fight than believe any of this happening so he looked to her and hoped she was starting to believe what she was seeing.
Sapphire hurried to the spot where the prince and princess had been sitting. "Hold on, Jiminy," she muttered as she ran, pulling her gun. She stepped in front of the monsters, firing round after round at the monsters that emerged, ignoring Niko. If there was something to fight, she'd fight regardless.
Niko looked at the monsters and sighed. He knew that they'd eventually back off once their numbers dwindled. He slashed at a few and as one attacked Sapphire from behind, Niko pointed his Keyblade at it and a blast of fire hit the monster knocking it away and disintegrating it as it flew. Niko looked around and saw that the had destroyed the rest of them and sighed dispelling his Keyblade.
"This keyblade is gonna take some time to get used to." Niko said putting his hands behind his head and looking around.
"You know, Niko." Jiminy said. "You remind me of Sora."
"Who's Sora?" Niko asked.
"Sora is one of the legendary Keyblades of Light. He was the one who destroyed Xehanort to begin with. It befuddles me how he escaped."
"Jiminy do you know what those things aere?" Niko asked.
"Those are the Heartless." Jiminy replied. "Creagures made from the darkness in people's hearts. And I don't want to be rude, Miss Sapphire, but they seem to be attracted more to you than Niko. I can just tell she's full of darkness."
"Maybe." Niko said. "But that's what I love about her. She was such a buzzkill at first, but she opened up in time. Her heart is full of darkness because of her past. But I want to give her...well...us a future with happiness at the center. If that means we have to take down Xehanort again, we will!"
Jiminy smiled at this and nodded. It wasn't everyday someone who had the same demeanor as Sora ever came about. He was thankful someone was taking this all with a light manner. He looked to Sapphire and sighed. He could tell growing up was rough, and being on her shoulder made her question reality. Niko looked to Sapphire and sighed.
"So?" Niko said taking her hand. "Do you still think this is all a dream of some sort?"
Sapphire was at first a little taken aback by Niko calling her a buzzkill, but she didn't get the opportunity to say anything. She just kind of folded her arms and made a face. He'd be sleeping on the couch when they got back home. She also wasn't sure how she felt about being told her heart was "full of darkness," even though she knew it was true.
Sapphire holstered her gun and sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'd like to think it is," she told Niko. "This is all so bizarre. More bizarre than anything of my father's plans. Not to mention how abruptly it happened, and, you know, WHEN it happened..."
"I know." Niko said. "This is strange, but we can't let how unreal this all is keep us from stopping Xehanort. Are you willing to suspend your disbelief?"
Sapphire sighed and folded her arms tightly, looking down and to the right. "No, I'm not," she replied indignantly. "But it won't keep me from stopping this asshole. If someone's in danger, real or not, you know I'll try to make sure they're safe." Her voice sounded as if she had given in to something.
"Works for me." Niko said as r wakes towards the castle. "I can sense that they went that way."
Biting her lip gently, Sapphire let out a small breath and followed Niko. Normally she was the one focused on the mission and really ignoring much else, but Niko seemed to be the one doing that this time around. Was this how he constantly felt when they'd done things together? It felt awful.
As they walked Niko saw a mouse running towards them. Niko picked him up and put him on his shoulder.
"Whoa there little guy!" Niko said.
"Me not little guy!" The mouse replied. "My name Jacque! Have to find help! Cinderelly in big big trouble! Roosifee grow many many big!"
"Cinderella is in danger..." Saph said. "Lucifer grow huge."
"Zug zug! Cat lady correct" Jacque said looking to Saph.
"We can help!" Niko said. "Which way?"
"Cinderelly in castle!" Jacque replied.
"Come on!" Niko said putting the little mouse in his pocket. "Cinderella needs us!"
Niko ran off towards the castle.
"What the fuck is going on?" Sapphire whispered harshly to herself. Small talking mice? What? She groaned, shook her head, and hurried after Niko.
Niko ran into the castle and saw a giant cat. Jacque hid deeper into Niko's pocket and Niko summoned his Keyblade.
"Now that's a giant pussy." Niko said. "Ready to put it down?"
"Why the hell not?" Sapphire asked in a mutter under her breath, pulling her gun out. She reloaded quickly and looked to Niko. "On your go."
"Wait for it." Niko replied. "Wait for it!"
As Lucifer approached, Niko smiled and rushed at it. Niko jumped on its back and punched its neck a few times and jumps into the and it falls towards the ground. However, Lucifer is a lot more limber than he looks and he quickly regains his balance and quickly turns and grabs Niko tossing him away. Niko hit the wall and slid down the wall. A small glow appears in Sapphire's hands and a white and Sapphire blue Keyblade appeared in her hands.
Sapphire swore loudly and jumped black as a blade akin to Niko's appeared in her hand. Narrowing her eyes, she looked at it, then at the cat, then back at it. Swearing again, softer this time, she holstered her gun and charged at Lucifer. Her limited amount of melee weapon training would have to do.
She rushed at the cat, and, when in proximity, she swiped at it sharply before withdrawing to avoid a defensive attack from her new adversary.
"Well I'll be." Jiminy said in awe. "You have a Keyblade too Sapphire! I'm on a journey with two Keyblade wielders!"
Hopping back into Sapphire's pocket, Jiminy began jotting down everything so far.
Lucifer got up and looked at Sapphire and hissed. As it was about to strike its eyes went cross and it fell to the ground. Niko stood over it and sighed. Suddenly, Lucifer got up and started running away.
"Yeah you better run ya pussy!" Niko shouted. Suddenly Cinderella ran up to him and Sapphire and smiled, the Prince not far behind her.
"Thank you both ever so much." Cinderella said as Jacque appeared out of Niko's pocket. "And thank you too Jacque."
"How did that cat get so... Big?" Sapphire asked, shaking her head. "And... Where did I get this... Thing?" She shook the Keyblade and looked at it with a confused, wild look?
"I suppose we'll never know." Jiminy said
Suddenly a key-shaped hole appears in the air and Niko and Sapphire's Keyblades glow.
"The keyhole!" Jiminy exclaimed. "Quick! Point your Keyblade at it to seal the world from Xehanort's control!"
"Okay!" Niko replied.
Niko pointed his Keyblade at the keyhole and a burst of light emits from it. Niko looked to Sapphire as if to say "hurry up."
Sapphire scoffed at Niko's look. He was enjoying this experience all too much. She raised her Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole, her free hand resting in an annoyed fashion on her hip.
Though very irritated by the experience so far, everything seemed very... Connected, and in place.
A large ker-chunk was heard and the keyhole disappears. Suddenly the duo was enveloped in light and brought back to the Gummi Ship, where Niko saw new worlds to explore. Niko saw one in particular he liked and looked to Sapphire.
"I know you're probably still in denial that any of this is remotely real," Niko said. "But I want you to know that I won't force you to believe any of this. When Xehanort is gone you can play this off as a bad dream, but for now, please just try to at least open your mind a bit?"
"Looks like the two of you have Keyblades," Jiminy said smiling. "Which means Heartless are gonna be after ya in full force. Now the next world is gonna get weird. We're going to the Pride Lands."
Sapphire narrowed her eyes and Niko, sitting down in her seat and folding her arms again. She had opened her mouth to respond to Niko, but then she looked at Jiminy with wild eyes.
"NOW it's going to get weird?" she asked, exasperated. She put her face in her hands. "I should have just stayed with the Insurgents..." Her voice sounded almost hysterical.
