Merry early Christmas everybody! And Happy early Hanukkah to my Jewish readers. As a belated gift, I'll see about updating the day after Christmas. Anyway, about this new arc. It's neither Disney nor FF. It was originally suggested by Wwecat, and I warmed up to the idea quickly. So, here we go! Santa?

Santa: "DarthKingdom owns neither Kingdom Hearts or Disney. Nor does he own Square Enix or Dreamworks. Merry Christmas, one and all!"

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Chapter 112: The City of Gold

"Okay, I give up." Riku admitted. "Where the heck are we?"

The party had just landed on a world they had never visited before. The ship computer charts had identified it as 'El Dorado.' They were currently standing in the midst of a very thick mist, through which they could barely make out the forms of their friends. Sora could hear the distant sounds of wildlife, and the much closer sound of a slow-running waterfall.

"The computer called it 'El Dorado', and that name sounds familiar to me for some reason..." Sora muttered. He walked a few steps forward, and ran into something hard.

Apparently the rest of them heard him grunt in frustration, so they came to see what he had 'discovered.' In the brief moment when the mist cleared, they saw what looked like a massive flat piece of stone. Carved into the front were two people in headdresses riding some sort of dragon with a horse's head. A third man in a headdress was kneeling down before them, with his hands held up in offering.

"So... what is it?" Bariss asked.

"Well Bariss, I figured that was an easy one!" Goofy said.

"Really?" Kairi seemed surprised. "You know what this is?"

"Sure I do!" Goofy said proudly. "It's a great big rock!"

A collective sigh of irritation could be heard through the mist. Donald finally voiced everyone's thoughts. "Of course it's a great big rock, you big palooka! We wanna know what it means!"

"Oh... welp, that is a tricky one!"

Nehrut floated up toward the top of the rock to get a better look at the men on the mount. "If I had to guess, I'd say this was some form of monument. Judging by the guy bowing down there, I'd guess that these two are leaders or gods or something."

"Still more weird gods..." Sora muttered. "So who do you think put it here?"

"The big, burly, angry-looking natives running right toward us with weapons!" Axel suddenly shouted, summoning his chakrams.

All eyes turned to where he was facing. Through the heavy mist -quickly approaching from the same direction where the waterfall noises were coming from- they could make out the shapes of a dozen or so large men. They seemed to be carrying thin spears in their hands as they ran. And as Axel had said, they didn't look happy.

Everyone summoned their weapons, and waited for their approach.

These men surrounded them as they stood at the base of the rock, and pointed their spears inward. Now that they were closer, Sora noted that they were all bare-chested, though some wore animal skin. Their baggy pants were made of some sort of cloth. Their skin was very tanned, and they had black hair, which most of them wore long.

The men bore hard expressions as they gazed upon those who had intruded into their land. But their expressions soon became those of confusion when they noted their out-of-the-ordinary appearances, clothing, and weapons.

One took a tentative step forward, and soon found that Sora had sliced his spear in half with one quick lunging motion. The Keybearer had leapt backward to his previous position before the man could even register what had happened.

The man backed up so quickly that he nearly tripped over his own feet. His companions now seemed to be weighing their chances of winning a fight against the strange newcomers, not realizing from the get-go that they were ludicrously overmatched.

One of them muttered something to his comrades, and got more than one quiet response in a tongue that Sora couldn't catch. As they talked amongst themselves, he edged over toward the rest of the group, not falling out of his fighting stance.

"Anybody have any idea what they're saying?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Nada."

"I figured." Sora said. "Anybody got any ideas of what we should do?"

"I don't think we should harm them." Nehrut whispered.

"What do we do then?" Riku replied. "Ask them politely to put their spears down and ask for directions to the nearest Keyhole?"

"That would probably save time, but I don't think it'd work." Kairi agreed.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that they aren't really our enemies. No more than the pirates at Port Royal were anyway." Nehrut elaborated. "I'm pretty sure they just came to check us out and got threatened by the sight of our weapons."

"So we should surrender?" Yuffie said.

"I think we should start by-"

"You people." One of the men spoke in perfect English. He was larger than his fellows, and wore the pelt of what looked like a big cat of some kind, and a necklace of its teeth. "Come with us."

They were hesitant to listen to him, but lowered their weapons nonetheless, curious as to what was going to happen.

The men were careful to keep a few feet of distance between them, but ushered them in a group toward the direction they had come from. The waterfall that Sora had heard came into view shortly. It was large high, and very wide, but the water seemed to be coming down with less force than one would expect.

It was moving softly enough for the first few men to walk easily through without being harmed.

The off-worlders moved in as well. Sora was yet again thankful for his magic clothing, which got very wet, but somehow without soaking through and sticking uncomfortably to his skin. But apart from Kairi, the others didn't enjoy the same advantages. Sora smirked when he saw Nehrut hold his cloak over both his and Bariss' heads to keep them dry. She smiled gratefully to him.

They stepped into a long, dark, high-ceilinged cavern. The wet rocks they stood on dropped off a few meters away into a small, but apparently deep river. Stone structures could be occasionally seen along the sides.

Four long, wooden, sturdy-looking canoes were anchored there, and they were ushered into them in two groups. The natives piled into the other two boats, save for two, which got into their canoes to push them along with long poles.

Sora still kept Oblivion lying across his lap in case he needed it, and discovered that the others were doing the same with their weapons. However, the men escorting them seemed to be mostly passive at the moment, and only cast them sidelong glances as they continued rowing them down the river.

They continued on in silence for nearly ten minutes, and the group took note of the unfamiliar stone statues and columns lining the tunnel at irregular intervals. They were mostly in Darkness the entire time, broken only by torches that the natives had lit, but after a while, there was finally light.

They were approaching a tall archway at the very end of the cavern, with lush green vines hanging from it. Golden sunlight was pouring from between them. When they broke through the vines, Sora remembered with sudden clarity why the world's name had struck him as being familiar.

El Dorado: The legendary city of gold.(1)

There was a collective gasp of awe from his friends. Directly before them where the river ended nearly a mile away, was a massive pyramid-like structure constructed entirely with gold and other valuable materials. Two slightly smaller ones stood to either side of it, and slightly further back. Smaller buildings bordered the river to either side, built among the jungle. Yet even these bright brick buildings had gold somewhere in the construction.

To either side of the archway they were sailing through were two huge ornamental columns made to resemble faces. Narrow streams of water were arching out from the tops. As the canoes progressed further down the river, Sora caught sight of more of the locals walking amongst the streets of the city. They had the same skin and hair as the men with them, and all wore bright, colorful clothing as they went about their business.

Sora turned away from this sight, and looked into the river when something lightly rocked the canoe. He gaped in shock when he saw a giant purple koi fish swimming alongside the boat, accompanied by several of its multicolored fellows.

Kairi let out a tiny little squeal of surprise. Sora laughed, and she playfully smacked him on the arm, temporarily forgetting that they were sort of prisoners. A small group of bright yellow butterflies fluttered past her face a second later, briefly illuminating her face with their brightness.

He just had to kiss her. It was a pleasant surprise, and she returned it enthusiastically.

"Do you think you could save that for later, guys?" Mickey (who was sharing this canoe with them, Donald, and Goofy) whispered to them.

"No." Sora muttered quickly before pressing his lips to Kairi's again. She coiled her arms around his shoulders. With the gentle rocking of the boat, and the beautiful scenery around them, it was a somehow magical moment despite their tense situation.

They had to cease with their romantic moment when the canoes stopped at the base of the massive pyramid. They were all led onto a stone platform before the steps leading up to the ridiculously tall building. A crowd was starting to form to get a good look at the strangers.

The off-worlders glanced cautiously around, gathering together in a group. The people around them were looking at them as if they'd never seen anything like them (which they probably hadn't, Sora realized).

He heard one whisper to his companion, "Could they be here for the gods?"

Riku looked curiously at Sora, who shrugged.

The crowd abruptly parted to make room for two people. By their appearances (which differed greatly) Sora guessed that they were figures of importance in the city.

The first man was about as wide as he was tall (which was saying something). This middle-aged man had long, shiny black hair that hung down his back, a kind face, and dark eyes. He wore a slightly pointed golden headpiece, and a necklace of three golden squares. He was bare-chested, but wore a blue-green skirt-like piece from his waist. There were golden armlets on both of his burly forearms.

The other was also middle-aged, but was taller, and had pulled his dark hair into a short pony tail behind his head. He had a dark red tattooed line running horizontally across his face just beneath his eyes. Another small red line on his chin resembled a beard. He wore bright red and yellow robes, as well as gold armlets. A square turquoise necklace was around his neck.

They walked up to the group of off-worlders with curious and somewhat calculating expressions. The large man spoke first.

"I am Chief Tannabok. Welcome to El Dorado. What is your business here?"

Sora was about to come out and try their usual explanation about being beings from another world, here to combat the Darkness, but then the other man spoke.

"Do not speak to them that way!" He spat out at the chief. His expression changed in one moment, to be replaced by one that was familiar to any culture: That of a man who was about to do some serious kissing up. "Forgive his impudence, my Lords. I am Tzekel-Khan, high priest, and speaker of the gods. I assume you are here on their terms? Please, allow me to inform them of your arrival."

He quickly walked away, hurrying up the steps of the pyramid, somehow maintaining a look of importance despite the fact that he was moving quickly.

The off-worlders watched him for a moment, and then huddled together.

"Okay..." Axel began. "Is anybody following any of this at all?"

"No, but I think we're about to meet some kind of gods, so just play along and try to act natural." Sora said.

Tzekel-Khan reappeared in the entrance to the pyramid high above them. In a booming voice, he shouted to all the assembled, "The gods are here!"

Sora braced himself for some kind of grand entrance like those gods from Olympus; Something like a pillar of fire or a flash of bright light... What he got instead surprised him.

Two men walked down the pyramid on either side of Tzekel-Khan as the people of El Dorado cheered for them. As they got closer, Sora could make out their features.

The man on the right had bright green eyes, shoulder-length blonde hair, and a thin goatee. He was wearing a baggy bright red shirt and tan pants. His friend was slightly taller, with long black hair tied into a pony tail. He had a thin stripe of a beard on his chin, and blue eyes. He wore a blue shirt under a thin brown vest, and dark pants.

Sora traded suspicious looks with his friends. Nehrut already looked as if he was scanning the minds of the supposed gods.

Tzekel-Khan brought these two men down to them. He addressed the two men directly this time. "My Lords, I take it that these are your distinguished guests?"

The dark-haired man looked flustered for exactly a tenth of a second before he pulled it together and replied, "Yep, that's them!"

"Please excuse us for a moment, Tzekel-Khan," His friend added. "We'd uh, like to speak with our friends in private."

They walked toward the off-worlders, and ushered them over toward the end of the platform they stood on, just by the river. One they were out of earshot, the dark-haired one pulled Sora into a hug, laughing for a moment as if he was an old friend.

"Alrighty, quick question?" The man suddenly whispered rapidly into his ear. "Who the heck are you people?"

"I'm Sora, and who the heck are you?" Sora played along, returning his hug to play the part of the old friend.

"Tulio, that's my partner Miguel." He answered quickly. Miguel was currently shaking the hands of the others enthusiastically, kissing the women on the backs of their hands.

"And why are you pretending to be gods, exactly?"

"What makes you think we're pretending?"

"I've been around a lot more than you'd expect, I can tell these things."

"What kinds of things?" Tulio finally released him from his grip, slightly nervous. "Never mind. Alright, play along with us for a few minutes, and we'll all get out of this alive. Story time later, deal?"

"Deal."

They quickly shook hands, and Tulio turned back to their audience. "Alright! Everybody, allow me to introduce the gods'..."

"Executive staff, and official representatives of the spirit world!" Miguel finished, making up passable titles for them on the spot. "Here is Sora, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, Yuffie, Nehrut, Bariss and um..."

"Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Axel!" He whispered sidelong to him. "And yes, I do."

The people cheered for them as the 'executive staff' bowed theatrically to them, and then to the 'gods.' Tzekel-Khan gave a shout of excitement.

"Excellent!" He said, stepping forward, and bowing very low to Sora. "Now, would Your Graces desire your own quarters, or shall sharing living space with the gods be enough?"

"Ah, we have plenty of room Tzeckley." Tulio said, addressing the man by a name that might have been an attempt to calm him down when he was being theatrical. "They can stay with us for a while."

"And if it's not too much of a bother," Nehrut interjected, stepping in between Miguel and Tulio and placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "We'll just go ahead and retire early. The sun's going down soon, and we have special rituals to plan."

"Nice one." Miguel whispered admiringly.

"Have you done something like this before?" Kairi asked, also whispering.

"Once. Port Royal... good times."

Miguel and Tulio led them up the steps of the pyramid as the crowd began to disperse. Tzekel-Khan and Chief Tannabok bowed low to them as they passed them by.

It was a tiring walk up there, and by the end of it even Sora's legs were starting to feel cramped. "Inside, quick." Tulio parted the curtains that covered the entrance to his and Miguel's quarters.

It was a large, extravagant chamber with stone floors. The walls were a red-orange color, and adorned with various symbols that represented who-knew-what. A bit of the plant life had been allowed inside through small openings in the ceiling to where they wrapped around the columns in the room. In two places on either side of the room, the wall ended, opening into a sort of balcony that offered a magnificent view of El Dorado from above. There were long seats made of pure gold around the rooms, adorned with soft, ornamental pillows. In the very center was a, shallow, square-shaped pool of water. And at the end of the room was a large alter-like structure.

Waiting for them in the entrance for them was a woman roughly the same age as Miguel and Tulio (early twenties). She was clearly another native. She had long black hair that went down to her thighs, and was wearing clothing that might have actually been acceptable in El Dorado's society, though probably not by much, though.

"That was way too close." Miguel said, lying down on a few pillows.

"No kidding." The woman agreed. "I gotta hand it to you Miguel, 'executive staff?' Nice touch."

"Something I pride myself on, darling."

"Okay! Now that we're not in imminent danger of painful, agonizing death," Tulio said, "Let's get down to brass tacks."

"Why don't we start with what the heck is going on here?" Sora asked, sitting down on the seat next to Miguel.

"Well kid," Miguel began, "Tulio and I here were in the middle of a dice game whe-"

"Wait!" Tulio interrupted. "Hold on a second here. No offense, but we're going to need a little assurance before we go off telling you our life story that you won't tell the locals about any of this. We did just meet you."

"What do you think guys?" Sora asked the group.

After a small amount of discussion, they reluctantly agreed not to tell a soul.

"Alright!" Miguel said. "Now..."

And so, Miguel and Tulio told them their story, which was worthy of an exciting work of fiction. They were con men by trade, and made a healthy living with a spot of gambling once in a while. Back in Spain, they had a nice price on their heads. In their latest venture, they had won a strange map of the 'new world' leading to El Dorado, off of a sailor. Unfortunately, they had been caught playing with loaded dice, and were chased through the streets.

One thing led to another, and they accidently ended up as stowaways on the next ship to the new world, which was one of several being led on an expedition by an Hernan Cortes. They had been caught, and thrown in the brig by the unpleasant leader of the expedition. They had had luck and cunning on their side, however, and had escaped the ship with a rowboat and a few supplies, accidently stealing Cortes' war horse Altivo in the process (the horse chose that moment to enter the room).

They had inadvertently landed on the shores of the new world before Cortes' fleet over a week later, and had followed the map along a long, winding trail through miles of jungle, and had found the city just the previous day. Due to their slight resemblance to the figures in the large monument to their gods, the people had naturally assumed that they were there to usher in the Age of the Jaguar.

They had played along, but after the public eyes were off of them, they had been discovered by Chel –the young woman who was standing in the room now. She had offered to be their 'assistant' in El Dorado culture, and to hold her tongue. In exchange, she had demanded a trip back home with them once they had amassed a suitable amount of gold to live like kings when they returned to Spain.

"And we're not exaggerating!" Tulio finished nearly an hour after they had begun their tale. Night had just fallen on the city.

"I can't help but notice that you left out the part about the leeches, Tulio." Miguel interjected, grinning.

"I think that might be for the best, thank you Tulio." Riku quickly said before the other man had a chance to reply.

"So, let me see if I understand this..." Sora began slowly. "You're two criminals who are extorting the trust and misguided religious beliefs of an unfamiliar people to make a quick buck?"

"Uh..." Miguel and Tulio suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable.

"You realize that you're sounding an awful lot like the bad guys here, right?" Kairi added, narrowing her eyes dangerously. Anyone who knew her well enough recognized that this was a sign that the person she was addressing had exactly five seconds to explain themselves if they didn't want their personal parts burned, frozen, or electrocuted.

Tulio seemed to recognize this, because he slowly backed away, and held his hands up in front of him as if hoping that would protect him. "Now, in our defense, we didn't have much of a choice, because they were about ready to massacre us on the spot before Tzekel-Khan interrupted."

"And really, truly," Miguel added, "We aren't bad people, we've just had extremely bad luck... Or good luck, depending on one's point of view."

"And in any case, we don't plan on staying long, or on taking all the gold." Tulio continued. "Just enough to get back home, pay off our debts, and stay safe... With enough to live comfortably, of course."

"And it's not as if we're putting the people of El Dorado out on their backs or anything." Miguel added. "Once we leave, things will go back to normal for them, and in a few years time, it'll be as if we were never here."

"That speech sounds suspiciously rehearsed." Nehrut noted, raising an eyebrow.

"But, it makes sense!" Chel argued. She seemed remarkably casual considering the awkward position she had been thrust into.

Sora traded looks with his friends, who were mostly scattered about the large room. Eventually they came to an agreement.

"Well, we have worked with people like Jack Sparrow." He finally said with a shrug.

"And these guys remind me a bit more of Aladdin than they do him." Yuffie said, whilst admiring a golden dagger on one wall of the room.

"So... what are you doing here?" Tulio asked at last.

They all smiled. This was always a fun part of arriving on a new world: Explaining their incredible story to people whose minds would be blown wide open by the revelation. It had been very amusing to watch Quasimodo's ever-changing expressions as they told the story, so Sora wondered how these people would react.

It took nearly two hours even considerably shortened down, but they managed to adequately convey the ideas of Heartless, different worlds, and their part in the whole grand scheme of things.

Sora laughed at the amazed looks on their faces when they had at last finished, and the others joined him.

"So, you are here because there are Heartless on this world now?" Miguel asked.

"Possibly." Mickey answered. "Darkness is present here, and it could strike down at any moment. But how, when, where, and why we can't quite say."

"All we know is that we're needed here, and we'll stay until the job is done." Riku said, folding his arms and leaning back in his seat. "And if we have to lounge around in a golden paradise for a few days, then so be it."

Miguel and Tulio looked at each other for a moment, and carried on a quickly conducted whispered conversation.

"Alright!" Tulio concluded. "Then, as long as you're here, we'll lend you a hand if you need it."

"Besides," Miguel added, "Aiding world-saving warriors sounds vaguely heroic! Not to mention that there'll be a chance for a spot of excitement later on, I'm sure."

Sora grinned. Maybe they weren't such bad guys, after all.

The stars outside (in reality millions upon millions of worlds) were shining brilliantly by now. Nobody was moving on the streets anymore, and the only light apart from the stars and the crescent moon above was emitting from their temple, and a large stone structure which apparently belonged to Tzekel-Khan.

The thirteen of them (plus the horse) were tired by the day's events. They found a lot of extra pillows in a side chamber, and brought them out for the off-worlders to sleep on. They would have to sleep on the floor, but the pillows were comfortable enough that this wasn't a problem.

Chel bid them all goodnight, and left the temple –presumably to her own home somewhere in the city. Altivo laid down in a corner of the room, and was asleep within minutes. Miguel and Tulio retired to a very large sedan chair that had been provided for them (they repeatedly insisted that they were straight when Axel started laughing).

Sora rolled his eyes, and plopped down onto a group of pillows next to Kairi. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled in close to him, and he pulled her as close as he could.

They all fell asleep within minutes.

However, a few hours later, Nehrut was awoken by a soft sound by his ear. His eyes shot open, and he jumped to his feet...

Or would have jumped to his feet if there wasn't a soft weight on his chest. It took a moment for him to realize exactly what had happened. The soft noise that had awoken him was Miguel, who had gotten up for water, judging by the golden goblet he had in his hand. And the weight on his chest...

Bariss had coiled her arms around his neck in her sleep, and was half-lying on top of him. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, on the contrary, it gave him a warm feeling in his stomach. The telepath looked down into her sleeping face with a soft smile, and placed a hand on her back.

"Sorry for waking you, kid." Miguel apologized in a tone just loud enough for him to hear without anyone else waking up.

"Don't worry about it. I was in the middle of an unpleasant dream anyway." The dreams of Xaynew's assault on the palace had lessened significantly since his talk with Bariss, but they still crept up on him without warning every once in a while.

Miguel's eyes fell on the sleeping girl who was all but attached to him. "I didn't know you two were together."

His face turned red. "We aren't."

The older man snorted and went to bed. And as he did so, Nehrut thought about the oracle's words.

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For those who haven't seen 'The Road to El Dorado' I highly recommend it. It's one fun, hilarious romp.

1) I recommend playing the various Elton John tracks for these chapters. The man does good work.

Once again, Merry Christmas, and leave a review!