A small two foot three inched figure hurried swiftly down the hallway leading to the Audience Chamber, their gowns dragging across the floor. A magnificent crown adorned the figure's head and twinkled brightly as every so often the trinket caught the sun's rays. The figure's face was one of worry as they made their way to the nearing doors of the Audience Chamber.
As the figure moved to open the doors they immediately had to jump back in surprise to avoid being hit by the opening doors. They gasped in surprise as the two forms of Donald and Goofy blocked the entrance to the chamber. The figure caught the surprised looks the two exchanged as they took in the figure before them.
"Your majesty!" Donald quacked. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Donald, Goofy," the Queen greeted. She moved to go around the pair but was surprised (and slightly annoyed) to find that her path was blocked. She attempted another route only to find the pair moving to block her once more.
"Uh….what'd ya want to go in there fer, your majesty?" the Captain of the Guard asked.
"I received an urgent letter that concerns me," the Queen asked, bringing the two's attention to the paper clutched in her hand. "It says that we might be in trouble once more."
Donald laughed nervously. "That letter's just a joke!"
"But it's signed in the King's handwriting," the Queen said, doubt filled her tone. She watched incredulously as the two opened and closed their mouths, searching for something to say.
"Maybe we should just tell her, Donald," Goofy whispered loudly in the duck's ear. The duck quacked loudly in protest and jabbed his elbow sharply into the dog's stomach.
"Your majesty," Donald laughed nervously. He tried to find the right thing to say but only succeeded in smiling lamely.
"What are you two doing standing in the doorframe?" a familiar, high pitched voice asked from behind Donald and Goofy. The two jumped in surprise and whirled around to see the King standing before them with his arms crossed over his chest, three other very familiar people were standing behind him.
"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed.
"Donald, Goofy!" Sora exclaimed. The brunette rushed to the two and enveloped them in a hug. "I thought I'd never see you two again!"
"Sora!" the two exclaimed, returning his hug.
Once the three parted from their hug Donald and Goofy turned their smiling faces on Riku. The silver haired teen simply nodded his head in acknowledgement but the duck and dog weren't having any of that.
Goofy laughed loudly and wrapped his arms around the stoic teen. Donald followed his friend's actions. Despite the boy's look of dissatisfaction on his face one could tell he enjoyed seeing the two once again.
"I'm glad that everyone knows one another," Azami spoke up, "This will work better when we have to fight together."
"Fight?" Sora asked, his smile faltering a little.
"What's all this about King Mickey?" Riku asked. He focused his untrusting eyes on the mysterious girl before him.
The King sighed heavily and turned his attention to his wife who was still standing in the doorway. "Minnie, if you don't mind, I'd like to explain the situation to the others first. I promise I'll tell you later." He offered his wife a kind smile but was met with a dubious look in return.
"No more secrets, Mickey," the Queen reminded her husband. "You promised."
The small male mouse raised his right hand and promised that he'd tell his wife everything soon. The Queen, reluctantly accepting his promise, turned from the door and made her way in the opposite direction. Azami shut the door before the Queen had made it even halfway down the hall.
"Where do I start?" she muttered, running her hands through her hair. "Do you know what we even are?"
"We?" Sora asked slowly. "Who are we?" The brunette scratched his head in a confused type fashion. Azami bit back a sigh; she could see she'd have a lot to explain.
"Me and my friends," Azami explained. She directed a small portion of dark energy to her right hand and passed it over her face. Almost immediately her heartless mask covered her face and almost immediately Sora and Riku called upon their respective Keyblades. Once again King Mickey stepped between the three, shooting the boys a hard look.
"She's on our side, remember?" King Mickey snapped. The brunette at least had the dignity to look ashamed and put away his Keyblade but Riku stood defiant, glaring at Azami's masked face.
"It's alright King Mickey," Azami laughed, "It took even you some time to get used to this thing." She moved her mask off her face and let it rest comfortably in its usual spot at the upper right side of her forehead. Seeing that Riku's hard glare was still trained on her face, she dropped her smile, cleared her throat, and got back to her explanation.
"We call ourselves The Incompletes. We are the kids who managed to escape the Heartless when they attacked our worlds. However, we didn't escape unscathed, the Heartless took pieces of our hearts and in return we acquired the Heartless powers. You can tell which Heartless stole our heart and what powers we're capable of by the masks that we wear. As you can see a Shadow took a piece of my heart and in return I can do anything a shadow can do."
"So how'd you get the masks?" Sora asked. He seemed interested in the peculiar black mask that rested on her head. In fact, he seemed so interested that he looked like he wanted to touch it.
"They just came like the powers. It shows our connection to the darkness and we use that connection to our advantage. When we travel from world to world we use the masks as disguises. The Heartless mistake us for one of them and all too often so do humans, which allows us to go about our business unbothered."
"And what exactly is your business?" Riku asked. His tone was harsh. Azami shrugged her shoulders carelessly.
"We go from place to place exploring and having fun, albeit our fun isn't always harmless. Of course our true intentions are hidden by all our constant play. I fear that my friends are forgetting why we started exploring other worlds in the first place."
"And why would that be?" Riku asked. His tone still harsh.
"We wanted to find a way to get back the pieces of our hearts that were stolen from us. We thought that other worlds might hold the answers. Somehow we were so lost in our fun that we lost sight of what we were originally looking for. I worry that they no longer wish to find the pieces of their hearts. I fear that they are playing something that will hurt all of our worlds."
"That's why I've called you and Sora here, we must stop the impending threat before it's too late," Mickey finally spoke up. "We're in danger and I think that it's more dangerous than any Heartless or Nobody we have ever encountered in the past."
"More…dangerous?" Sora gasped in disbelief. He ran his hands through his brown locks and groaned loudly. "But defeating Xemnas and the Nobodies was so hard!" The brunette fell into the nearest seat and threw his head back, giving Azami and the others a nice view of his neck.
"My friends are experts in the power of darkness and are smarter than any Heartless. They'll be extremely hard to go up against."
"And how do we know that we can trust you?" Riku asked. He stepped towards Azami threateningly. His hands were clenched at his sides and he was glaring daggers at her.
"I am aware that I will have to gain your trust and I am prepared to do so, if you will allow me to." She held the boy's heated stare, not in the least bit intimidated.
"Riku," the King spoke up. "Azami is here to help us. We're going to need her help with her friends. She knows them like no one else does. She's invaluable to your group."
"You won't be coming with us King?" Azami asked, shocked at this news.
The small mouse chuckled slightly. "I wish I could but my duty lies here, protecting the castle. I'll do what I can from here but you five must do this journey without me."
She didn't like the King's idea in the slightest. She trusted Donald and Goofy as much as she trusted the King but she had only met the two island boys and as much as Sora seemed to trust her, she knew Riku was another story. However, she respected the King's wishes and decided to keep her protests to herself.
"Get all the sleep you can," Azami muttered, turning away from the others. "We leave early tomorrow." She moved to make her way out of the room to visit the guest chamber she usually occupied on her visit to the castle when Sora spoke up.
"Leave to where exactly?"
"Radiant Gardens, of course," she smiled. Sora, Donald, and Goofy jumped at the name.
"We're going to see Leon and the others?" Sora exclaimed. The brunette and his friends smiled largely as they took in the information.
Azami nodded her head. "Cid is modifying a Gummi ship that will get us from world to world."
"How will we be getting there tomorrow?" Riku spoke up.
"The fastest way there would be the corridors of darkness -" she tried to continue but the furious Riku immediately cut her off.
"You have no idea how dangerous those corridors are!"
She narrowed her eyes at the boy, finally having enough of his attitude. "I know just as much if not more than you, boy!" The look of utter surprise on the faces of Sora and Riku did not go unnoticed by Azami.
"I know all about your adventures, about how you were taken under Malificent's wing and how you succumbed to the power of darkness once before, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't look at me like I'm lower than you! You were like me once upon a time."
The furious white haired male set his jaw and glared heatedly at her. "You know nothing of me!"
"I have no more time for useless arguing with a boy who thinks he's better than me. I bid you all good night and will see you in the morning." Azami shot one last glare at the still glaring Riku before opening a portal and stepping through it.
It was quiet in the King's Audience Chamber as all eyes were trained on the white haired male. The boy in question tried to ignore the stares but found the task harder than he first thought.
The King sighed loudly and shook his head in disapproval. He pinned Riku with a pointed look but chose against scolding the boy, he didn't want any more arguing tonight. "It's been a long day and the information was a lot to take in, rest will do everyone good. When you two are ready, one of the servants will help you find your rooms for the night." He bid the boys goodnight before excusing himself from the room, Donald and Goofy quietly followed.
"What's the matter Riku?" Sora asked, confused by his friend's behavior.
"Don't tell me you believe she's here to help us?" Riku snapped, "Why would she want to help us when she's one of them?"
"I don't know," Sora said truthfully. He threw his hands behind his head, "Maybe….she's not like them at all?"
Riku scoffed at his friend's suggestion. "Come on Sora, you and I both know that once you've been corrupted by the darkness there's no coming back!"
"Well….what about you?" Sora asked, "You seem to be doing pretty well." The brunette smiled goofily as his friend opened and closed his mouth as he struggled to find something to say.
Sora yawned loudly before stretching his aching limbs. "I'd love to keep talking about this with you Riku but I'm tired and I kinda wanna get some Z's. Stop being so hard on her, something's telling me that you'd actually get along with her."
Riku found himself scoffing once more as he crossed his arms across his chest. "You're right, you do need to get some sleep; you're sounding less intelligent with every passing second!"
"Hey!" Sora shouted in protest. His friend laughed at him and raced from the room, the brunette closely following after him, protesting loudly about the boy's insult. For the moment Azami and the impending threat was pushed to the back of their minds.
Preview:
"We have to hurry quickly; Sora's light will attract a lot of Heartless to our location and with the size of the corridor we'll be overcome within seconds. I'll take up the rear; just keep going straight until you see the light and don't slow down for anything, understand?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded obediently while Riku focused his gaze on more interesting things like…..his feet.
"Alright gentlemen, what are we waiting for?"
Riku was the first one to enter the corridor, followed closely by Donald, Goofy, and Sora. Taking a deep, calming breath Azami entered last, steeling her nervous nerves as the corridor closed behind her and the group was drowned in darkness.