[A/N: Huzzah for the first author's note. You might notice that this chapter is a tad shorter than the previous two and that's mostly because I couldn't figure out much to happen. Anyway reviews are appreciated. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square Enix.]
When Juliet landed in the next world her landing went a lot smoother; the glider barely touching the cobblestone streets as she glided down. As she dismounted from the glider she felt a strange warmth spreading through her chest. Juliet looked around the small town square that she'd landed into see a little girl with shoulder length red hair wearing a white apron like dress with purple and white skirt on under it. I wonder if she's one of the seven pure lights. I feel the warmth that Erik was telling about. She must be one of them. She saw the little girl walk past towards an old woman.
"Kairi, there you are. I've been looking for you." Said the old woman as she draped an arm over the little girl. "I suppose you want to hear that story again wouldn't you?" The old woman saw Kairi nod her head eagerly. "All right once more then. Years ago there once was light everywhere. Soon people began to fight over the light and thus darkness was created. All though the darkness spread though out the worlds light still exists in the hearts of children everywhere."
Juliet could feel her heart begin to beat in excitement at the familiar story. This girl is defiantly one of the pure lights. She just has to be. Oh, I can't wait to tell Erik. That's one down and six to go. She pulled the map out of her pocket and unfolded it to see where she'd landed. Looks like I'm in Radiant Garden. What luck would I have if the rest of the lights in this world too. Juliet looked up away from the town to see a large castle looming over the tiny village. Might as well see if anyone in the castle knows anything about the rest of the pure lights.
As Juliet made her way towards the castle she heard rooting under her feet and looked down to see a black head pop out from under the stone and look up at her with beady eyes. "Oh, that's nice there are Wraiths here too." She put her foot on the Sloth Mole's head in the attempt to push it back down when she heard it squeal in anger; its teeth sinking into her boot. "I guess now would be a good time to use that magic that Erik taught me…..but how do I use it?"
The Sloth Mole unburied itself from the stone to reveal two shovel like paws. It snarled at Juliet and began to crawl forward using its paws.
Juliet pulled out the Keyblade and held it out in front of her pointing at the Wraith. A small ball of fire shot out of the tip and hit the Sloth Mole in the nose sending it rolling back across the street. A few swipes with the Keyblade later and the Sloth Mole rolled onto its back before disappearing into vapor. After the Keyblade disappeared back into its keychain form Juliet looked back up at the castle. I wonder who's in that castle.
As Juliet walked towards the castle she saw three children walking down the street accompanied by a tall man with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth. Two of the children were girls; one with short black hair and the other with long brown hair with a pink ribbon. The boy had longish brown hair and a perpetual scowl. Juliet heard the names Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon for the children and something about old man Cid for the man. I wonder if they know anything about the seven lights or thirteen darknesses. She walked over to Cid. "Excuse me sir, do you know anything about seven pure lights?"
Cid looked down at Juliet and pulled the toothpick from his mouth. "Huh? What's that kid? What's that about light? Don't know what you're talking about, kid." He began to walk away when the girl named Aerith pulled at his sleeve.
"Don't you remember the story that Kairi's Grandma is always telling, Cid?"
"Aerith, you can't be serious. That story is just make believe."
"No it's not Cid," Piped up Yuffie. "Kairi's Grandma says that light still exists in the hearts of children. So, we still have lights in our hearts."
Juliet watched Cid put the toothpick back in his mouth and shake his head in disbelief. "Never mind….I'll be on my way."
On the rest of the way to the castle Juliet encountered more Wraiths, but easily dispatched them. As she approached the gateway of the castle Juliet saw two men guarding the entrance. One of the men had long dreadlocked hair in a ponytail with massive sideburns while the other was bulky and large with short red hair. Juliet walked up to the two men trying to keep a natural look on her face. "Excuse me gentleman, but do you think I could go into the castle?"
"No you may not." Was the answer from the stocky red haired man.
Juliet sighed under her breath and turned to begin walking away when she saw a group of Wraiths coming up the stairs. "Oh, great more Wraiths." When she went forward the man with the dreadlocks pulled her back.
"We'll take care of them."
She watched the two men run forward to attack the Wraiths when an idea came to her. Making sure that they were both fully involved with the Wraiths Juliet reached up and grabbed onto the handle of the massive doors and using all her body weight managed to open the door. Dropping down from the outside handle Juliet had to jump back up to the inside handle and swing for a few seconds to get the door closed again behind her. Turning to look into bowels of the castle Juliet saw only a series of dark turning halls. I wonder where I am anyway. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the map. Tracing the route from Andy's Room with her finger in the direction that she'd gone and landed on a world called Radiant Garden. Radiant Garden….it has one of the pure lights.
As Juliet continued to walk through the winding halls she heard the sound of footsteps and voices coming towards her. She quickly darted around a corner and peeked around it to see a tall man with long blond hair wearing a red scarf walking down the hall.
The man took a minute to stop walking before he pulled out a bar of light blue ice cream. "I do wonder why my apprentices have been so persistent with pursuing the studies of darkness." He licked the ice cream once before resuming his walk down the hall.
So this man knows something about the darkness. I think I'll ask him if he knows anything about the thirteen darknesses. Juliet walked after the man, but found that this was a little difficult because of his long strides. "Excuse me sir, did I you say something about knowing about the darkness?"
The man looked down at Juliet. "Why would a young lady want to know about the darkness?" A new thought came to the man since he didn't remember letting Juliet in before. "How did you get inside my castle in the first place?"
Juliet felt her face go pale. "Well, that's a funny story. You see I wanted to see if you knew anything about the seven pure lights and the thirteen darknesses." She saw the man's face go the color of old milk. "Is there something wrong?"
"How do you know about the seven lights and the thirteen darknesses?"
Deciding to leave out the part about Erik, Juliet told the man about the diary and how she was trying to get back to her home world. "By the way who are you?" She asked finally at the end of the story.
"I am called Ansem the Wise, and I'm not sure if I believe the story you told me, but I feel like I should help you at least." Ansem began to walk back in the direction that he'd come from. "Come with me child. I shall tell you what I know about the darkness."
As they entered a room with a large computer in it Juliet watched Ansem walk over to the computer and begin typing something when the door opened up again after them. Ansem looked over to see another tall man with blond hair, but this man was wearing a white lab coat with a purple ascot. "Evan, what's the matter?"
"Sir, I've lost Ienzo again. I think he's wandered back into the town."
"I'll be there in a moment, Evan." Ansem turned back to Juliet blocking the computer from her view. "I'll be back in a few moments, child. Just stay here."
Waiting until Ansem had left the room Juliet walked over to the computer and looked down at the screen, but was unable to make out anything that was on it. Its times like this I wish I was better with technology. She began typing on the keyboard not noticing the beam of the light that was behind her. Juliet turned around just in time to see the beam of light aim at her.