Marie's casual wear:

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/I-bring-you-peace-214094964?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F29599925&qo=5

Ryan:

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/That-s-his-name-286861562

Marie's timeless River outfit:

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/gallery/29599925#/d41gx9m

A\N:
Sorry, it took me a while to upload this. I had Carpal Tunnel and I'm trying to catch up with so many comments in deviantART and notes, and school and Jazz and blah. I wanna hide for like a year and not worry about things.

Chapter Twenty-Seven
ଓ
A bad-ass queen

I woke up calmly when I heard the ship make a turn. It was landing, and I got up and rubbed my eyes. The first thing my eyes landed on was the picture of my father, and I smiled. It seemed like the more I stared at it, the more hope I received. That smile of his is contagious.

I walked outside of my room, and I saw Ryan's door opened. I raised an eyebrow, and I walked in.

He was sitting casually on his bed, and biting his nails while reading a book. I never took Ryan was the reading type, but as I looked closer at the book it was the manual for the ship, the same one I got. That made sense, since Ryan was all about mechanics and whatnot.

I had been thinking, and maybe if Ryan could show that he was capable in fighting, I'd let him join with us. Although no one said it directly or even indirectly, it's my responsibility to see that Ryan gets home safely. At least, that's how I feel.

"Hey the ship landed, we ought to see what's up," I said while walking in the book. Ryan placed the book down and got up from his bed. He was still biting his nails, and I looked down to see his other nails. They were are ragged and uneven, and one fingernail looked like it had been bitten too far. I didn't know if it was a habit or something else, but it was a little gross.

"Well, that depends, are you gonna let me go?" he asked as he crossed his arms. Well, I guess I should talk to him about my deal.

"I was actually thinking. If you can fight well without having me worry or even getting yourself over-tired, then maybe," I said as we walked out of his room. He looked over to me, and this spark of excitement washed over his face. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, since Ryan did act like a kid at times. However, in a sense, we're all young, Sora, Ryan and I, and to others I could be considered a kid.

"I felt bad about treating you like a kid, even though you're older than me," I explained. "I guess I've gotten the idea that every kid sixteen and older should be like Riku."

Riku is sixteen, and my guess was that his birthday wasn't as pleasant as mine or Sora's. Even Kairi for that matter, since she didn't have her two best friends to celebrate it. I heard Ryan sigh, and I looked up at him.

"I bet Riku is like a fighting machine, huh?" he asked, and I could hear a hint of jealous in his tone. "He was always good at a lot of things, and I always wanted to be his friend. I was just too damn sick for it."

I couldn't sympathize with Ryan, since I was best friends with Riku when I was younger. Of course, times had changed, but we're still good friends. I sighed, and decided not to speak any further.

We reached the control room, and Sora and the others were already there. Ryan looked at the screen, and we both noticed a white castle as the new world. I wondered if it was like Beast's castle.

"Hey, 'bout time you woke up!" Sora exclaimed happily. I blinked and looked over to him; he was very cheery for some reason. "We're gonna see Donald and Goofy's world."

"Really?" I asked. I looked at the screen again, and wondered what kind of world it was like. I know that they're from the same world as king Mickey, so that would explain the big, white castle. I looked over to Ryan, who was leaning near his chair. "Aren't you gonna come?"

"I don't do well in castles, or with formalities, so I'll just hang around here," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. I laughed, and figured as much. He was predictable, which in a way, was good.

"Hey, let's go already! I wanna see Donald and Goofy's world!" Sora laughed while punching Goofy's arm playfully. I turned around and laughed, geez this kid was overactive. I started walking towards the door, with the guys ahead of me. Ryan waved and said goodbye, and soon enough we were out the door.

ଓ
Ryan and Aura

Ryan sat down on his chair, and looked over to the mechanics of the ship. The two chipmunks told him that they had everything under control should anything severe go wrong, but Ryan was in charge of putting upgrades or changing some of the cannons. He smiled to himself as he looked over the stuff they collected while travelling to the new world, and wondered what he could use to improve the ship. He had to talk to some man named 'Cid' to get some basic blueprints, but overall Ryan was excited.

"I see you're stay has been welcomed," a low, and feminine voice said. Ryan jumped and quickly turned around to see Aura, the girl who initially brought him to Marie, sitting on one of the desks. He slouched, and returned to his lazy position as he smiled and waved.

"Hey, it's you!" he greeted. He walked over to Aura, but she was well on her guard, and even he noticed. He backed up a bit, and shoved his hands into his pockets. "So, what brings you here…uh...?"

Ryan didn't notice the fact that Aura didn't came through the main entrance, but he was a bit oblivious to things. Aura crossed her legs, and looked around. She figured Ryan would help with helping Marie gain her memory back. She closed her eyes, and let out a small sigh. "The name's Aura and I have a little story to tell you about Sora and Marie."

Ryan raised his eyebrow in confusion, and stood silently and patiently while waiting for Aura to continue. He didn't care where she came from, but the mention of his cousin's name had already gotten him hooked. Aura opened her eyes and continued.

"You know, Marie really loves Sora, but some idiot went and made her forget ever knowing that. I'm trying to correct that, but I need your help," she said as she looked over to Ryan. He only scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Why should I help? Doesn't Marie have better things to do than fall in love with a kid?" he replied, sounding like a parent. Ryan always wanted siblings, so he really did think of Marie as his little sister. Because of that, he thought it part of the big brother act to make sure Marie dated guys he approved of. He had nothing against Sora, but he just didn't think he was dating material.

"Don't you see? Marie struggles with it. She knows she's forgetting something and that's love between her and Sora. It was destiny for them, and…," Aura swallowed a lump that formed in her throat and looked away while whispering. "I messed it up."

Ryan cocked his head towards her, and questioned what she said. She shook her head, and continued to speak. "If you really want to be the perfect cousin, or brother since your parents adopted her, then you have to think about her and her happiness. Marie is strongest when she's confident, and since she can't remember anything with Sora, there are patches in her memory, and that's making her insecure."

Ryan didn't speak, and only looked at the floor. It was true that Marie had gone through some, some of which he couldn't really understand, but what if Sora couldn't handle the baggage she brought with her? He looked at Aura, who was glaring at him the whole time. He gulped, and knew that if he did anything to prevent Marie being with Sora Aura would cut him a new hole.

"…Fine, if it makes Marie quit being depressed, I'll try to hook them up," he said as he crossed his arms. Aura looked at him, and a small smile crept on her lips. She was still getting used to the idea of being happier, but she kind of liked being aggressive.

She also knew that Ryan would be dealing with Organization XIII, and she wanted to lay some rules, or reminders. She looked at him again, and coughed. "Just so you know, those guys in black coats are bad," she said.

"I know. Come on, they reek of bad people," he laughed, but Aura remained. He laughed awkwardly, and started to tap his foot lightly. "Did you come all the way just to warn me? I Gotta say, I've never had a girl worry about me."

Ryan winked at Aura, and she rolled her eyes feeling a little disgusted. She is the nobody of his cousin after all. No, Aura didn't come to warn or protect him, she came to offer a threat, as cruel as that sounded.

"What? Do you want me to feel sorry for you just 'cause you got that condition?" Ryan flinched, and glared at Aura while she couldn't help but feel a little sadistic about calling his health out.

"H-how do you know that?" he asked while suddenly putting up his guard. No one but Marie, Tidus, Wakka and his parents knew that. He sure as hell knew that his parents or friends wouldn't tell, since they were god knows how far from him. Marie was always with him or Sora, and she didn't look like the type to go around gossiping.

"Let's just say I'm keeping an eye on you, cousin," she replied. She looked over to him and smirked. "Just 'cause you're family doesn't mean you won't betray us."

With that said, Aura fell back from the desk, and simply vanished. Ryan jumped and ran towards her, but as soon as he reached over the desk, specks of the dark blue portal that he first saw her in disappeared. His mouth stayed opened, unsure of what to think or do. When he got back up from the desk, he leaned against it and started thinking about what she said.

"Why the heck does she keep saying cousin?" he thought about it, and realized that he alone would find nothing. He needed to talk to someone about this, and the only person who could probably make sense of it all was his cousin.

ଓ
Marie

When we got off the ship, Donald and Goofy automatically noted something off about their home. Sora and I were stumped, since we figured they'd be overwhelmed to be home again. Before any of us could move though, we saw two little chipmunks running towards us, and I smiled.

"You're back!" one of them shouted, out of breath. I raised my eyebrow, wondering what was going on. "Hurry! Queen Minnie needs you!"

"The castle is in danger!" the other continued. "Go to the library!"

Without a moment to spare, Sora, Donald, Goofy and I ran towards the library. Of course, Sora and I didn't know where it was, so we had to rely on Goofy and Donald. They led us through a door, and it seemed we were in the courtyard. My eyes widened when I saw how green the grass was, and how all the shrubs were nicely cut. I felt my hand being tugged, and I looked over to see Sora dragging me along to the library. I had been gawking at the grass and shrubs that I forgot about the library, and when I looked over to them, I returned to being serious.

We made it towards the hallway, or the colonnade as Donald and Goofy called it. We noticed a door that was covered by a pink light, and when I questioned about it, Donald simply said it wasn't the library. I furrowed my eyebrows together and wondered what was behind the door, but my guess was audience chamber. You know the place where the king and queens sit on their fancy chairs and listen to people and their requests.

At least, I think that's what an audience chamber is.

In any case, we arrived at a brown door, and Sora did not hesitate to open it. When he did, we all burst into the room, and my eyes landed on a small woman wearing a pink, puffy dress. I stared in awe at how pretty it looked, and both Donald and Goofy presented themselves to her. When she turned around, I knew that she was the queen, since it really wasn't that hard to figure out. When I did look at her though, I couldn't help but smile at how small and delightfully cute she was. When she spoke, it was soft and had a smooth, yet innocent tone to it. At the same time, it was calm and kind. Her voice really sounded like a queen, and her gestures and posture definitely enhanced that.

"Where's the king?" Sora said, interrupting both Donald and Goofy. The queen simply gave a sweet and kind smile to him, but Donald was a little annoyed at his lack of formalities. I could only imagine how Ryan would've handled this.

"Excuse him! This is our friend, Sora." Donald roughly grabbed Sora's head and forced him to bow, which made me chuckle. Goofy turned back, and I noticed him smiling. "And this is Marie, she's also our friend."

I stepped up, and bowed down to pay my respect to the queen. Somehow, formalities weren't hard for me, and they even brought memories of when I was young. Many people respected Ansem, and they would often bow or pay their respects. Getting me out of my thoughts, I finally spoke. "It's an honour to meet you, your majesty."

"Sora. Marie." She repeated. She clasped her hands together, and with a cheery tone told us that the king had sent letters speaking of us. He labelled Sora as a young, brave man, which boosted his ego. He told the queen of my powers, and how I was loyal and caring. I blushed, since it's not every day you hear a king write compliments about you. The queen went on talking about how there were heartless, and I was confused, seeing as I didn't see any. She then asked us if we could escort her to the audience chamber.

Aha, I was right!

However, seeing as the heartless came uninvited, the queen had no chance of warning everyone beforehand.

"Alright! We'll make sure everyone knows what's going on!" Sora said proudly, but his ego deflated when Donald told him he would just end up lost. Goofy told Sora and I to stay with the queen, which I obliged happily. As Donald and Goofy left, Sora looked at the queen.

"So, to the audience chamber, right ma'am?" he asked. The queen confirmed our destination, and we started to head out. I noticed that when someone mentions heartless, they appear automatically, since that's what they did when we walked outside the library. Sora looked back at me, and I brought my hands close to my chest. "I'll clear the way, and you make sure the queen is safe."

I nodded instantly, and willed out my keyblade. The queen had some powers, since she took out a wand. She raised it in the air, and a ray of light eliminated some of the heartless way ahead of us. Sora hacked and slashed as many heartless as he could, and the few that were left behind were dealt by my blade. They were just shadows, so they weren't hard to defeat. Sora kept signalling for us to walk towards him, and we did so cautiously.

Once we reached the door, the queen stepped up in front. The door we saw with the pink barrier was in front of us, and the queen went on to explain that she sealed it once troubled brewed. I chuckled nervously when the barrier disappeared, only to have a small door on the bottom open. I was expecting the whole door to open, but it was obviously the king and queen favoured practicality. Sora walked through the door first, then the queen, then me. As we reached the other side, the room was empty, and huge! As soon as I took a step forward, Sora grabbed my arm, and I turned around. When he looked up, I did the same, and saw a bunch of heartless hovering over us. I couldn't quite describe them…they looked like pillars made out if….metal? Moreover, they had the black, puffy face with the yellow beady eyes.

The queen gasped, and obviously hadn't anticipated them to be here. Sora and I took out our keyblades, and protected the queen while heading towards the throne. With the queen's power, it wasn't taking too long. She drove the heartless away with her ray of light, and the left over heartless were dealt with by Sora.

I used most of my spells from last year, and blocked the attacks that came towards us. I was at the point where I didn't even want to fight blade to blade, so I just blocked or used my magic spells. There was no sense in me being on the offensive side, since I wasn't strong enough physically. I looked over to Sora, who was fighting the rest of the heartless like a champion. The queen used another one of her light spells, and again the heartless sprang back. I walked a little further, and instructed her to follow close behind. With Sora fighting and protecting us, we were able to get the queen to the throne. The heartless still remained, and Sora and I stood on watch to keep off the heartless while the queen looked for whatever she was looking for.

"Come on, gimme a break!" Sora complained. He stood on guard, and attacked any heartless that got close. I fired spells to keep them at a distance, but it wasn't doing much. After a while, I heard a click, and the floor began to move. I stumbled a bit, and looked around. The piece of floor we stood on shifted and a blinding light came from the floor. I covered my eyes, and when the light ceased I looked around.

The heartless in sight disappeared, and Sora and I stood there dumbstruck at what happened. "Whoa…," Sora said in awe.

"Talk about power…," I added, looking around the room. The queen walked over to the whole in the middle of the room, and I turned around to follow her. She explained how the floor below, called the 'hall of the cornerstone', held a stone called the cornerstone of light that protected them from worlds that were evil. She proceeded down the hallway, and I followed. Sora was the last to follow, and he looked like he was in thought, but I was too busy following the queen.

When we reached the room, the first thing I noticed was the fact that the room was covered in black thorns. I felt undeniably uncomfortable, and even a little cold. When we walked further into the room, we noticed a big ball of light on top of a pedestal…except the light coming from the ball was dim. The queen looked depressed, and stared at the ball.

"The thorns in the room must be the work of someone very evil," she said. I tilted my head and wondered who it could be, and then I heard footsteps and noticed Donald and Goofy walk in. Good, everyone is here. I walked close to the ball along with Sora, and all of a sudden a sickly green and black smoke appeared, and from it, a very familiar figure.

"Maleficent!" Donald shouted. Sora and Goofy were in disbelief, and I stood on my guard. She looked around, and smirked at us.

"Well, well, well. What have we here…?" she said, looking down on us, "If it isn't the wretched keyblade holder, and his pitiful lackeys!"

"I'm not a lackey!" I shouted, taking out my keyblade. She chuckled, and looked over towards me.

"No…you're the key," she said, waving her hand. I'm not an object, either…I shook my head, and looked at her. Donald was angry, and charged directly at her, but he bonked his head straight into the pedestal. She laughed again, and told us that vengeance would have to wait. She went on saying how she wanted the castle for herself, and decided to fill it with darkness first. That explained the cold chill I got, but still, it's not really nice to take something without asking. She left with saying the castle would be hers, and whipped out a maniacal laugh.

"What a hag," Sora commented. I closed my eyes for a moment, and the queen said she couldn't figure out why this was happening, even going to the library to find clues from books. That's when I opened my eyes.

"If anyone knows something about magic, wouldn't Merlin be the person?" I asked, placing a hand on my left hip and adding pressure to my left leg. Donald and Goofy agreed, saying we should all go back to Hollow Bastion. The queen nodded, and agreed to hold off the darkness until we returned. There was a transporter in the far right corner of the room, which conveniently directed us towards the hangar to the gummi ship. Well, seeing as how the gummi ship came from this world, that made sense.

ଓ

We transported to the ship, and the boys ran towards the control room to punch in the co-ordinates for Hollow Bastion. When I walked into the control room, Ryan was sitting down in his chair laughing at whatever the other guys were talking about. When I saw him look towards me, he got up quickly and walked towards me. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Yeah, I met this girl…"

"…Okay?" I said, not sure where he was going. He raised and waved his hands in protest, and assured he wasn't going to talk about anything inappropriate. Instead, he went to talk about the girl that first brought him to us. I thought about it, and remembered seeing the girl in blue fight Xaldin while Ryan made a run for it. I don't know where he was going with it, though.

"She sneaked into the ship, and she told me to watch out for the guys in black…in a very mean way," he said. My eyes widened, and I looked at Sora to make sure he wasn't listening. I took a deep breath, and looked back at Ryan.

"What was she doing here? Do you know who she is?" I asked feeling a little stalked. He shrugged his shoulders, and started to think. I sighed, and crossed my arms as I closed my eyes.

"I do remember her name for once!" my eyes popped wide open and stared at him. He placed a finger on his chin, and started to think again. I lowered my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose; this guy really has horrible memory. "Hmm, actually…no, wait, no. I think her name is Airu, no…Auri? Riri? Ah, it's Aura!"

"Aura? That's a peculiar name," I said, looking to make sure Sora wasn't listening. "Listen, don't worry about 'Aura', I'll look into it. Just don't tell Sora, 'cause I don't want him to worry or over-react over nothing."

"Why do you care so much about him?" Ryan asked, and I could hint the suspicion, yet a bit of curiosity in his voice. It's not that I like him, it's just…well, he already had enough problems, right?

"I don't like him; I just don't want to cause him problems if this girl is my problem, okay? Please don't tell him." Ryan took one last look at me, and shrugged his shoulders while returning to his chair to speak with the other guys. I sighed, and placed a hand over my chest. It was another thing to worry and stress over, but I really didn't want to cause Sora any problems. I really didn't know why I was caring about it, but I do.

Oh lord. I had a dream where this story was a Marie/Axel story. I cried.

Don't get me wrong though, I can definitely write and see this pairing, but I'm so used to Sorie that it's kind of like, meh, why bother? Well since Sorie is like, on hiatus, because of that whole ordeal, I can see Marie/Axel more now.

Don't worry, Sorie will come back pretty soon. I'm just waiting for that hit on the head for Marie to remember. Quite literally, actually.

Shadow 1n2:
Ahaha, Axel as the leader would be awesome. I'd join the team in a heartbeat. He'd probably make a day where all they do is sleep, since he really loves sleeping for some reason. I'm the year of the monkey, lol. I don't know if I'm a match or dot on for it. Aw! I I'd love a heartless mushroom hat, those things are cute!

Lvl-ZeR0:
Ahaha, I'm glad you liked it love. XD

OOOOOOOOooooooh, really? The blue ones? ;D Thanks for the red lollipop, but the blue ones that you speak of sound pretty interesting. XD Aha, I've never thought of it that way, but you're completely right! She'll appear sometime later methinks. XD

Dracula X:
Yes, yes she is right! Living in the past does nothing for your health, but it doesn't hurt to have the memories from it.

MoonDancer89:
Hercules is awesome, though! And yes, Aura is finally starting to let go of the past. XD

starlightmint72:
Ahaha, Ryan isn't going anywhere, and his status has improved! He's now just a little more important! Yeah, Marie is many things, one of them being insecure about her abilities. She's kind of lazy, too….not to mention she's pretty sensitive, so if you made fun with ill intentions she'll most likely cry. Thank you for reading!

SisterOfScarletDevil:
Ahaha, no it was a friend's birthday!

TheEpicBlueNinja:
Thank you!

XxKeyOfHeartxX:
Ahaha, no. He's in charge of bringing Marie and Sora together! XD and yes, Aura is starting to normalize, but she won't lose her bad-ass attitude. XD who knows? Riku could end up alone, no one knows for sure! Aura might still love someone else. :O

Trubeque:
You're completely right! But I don't think Dante wants to step into a room with a raging woman.

Lele-the-Greek-Geek:

Leeeeleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! LONG TIME NO WRITE HUH?

Haha, yeah she'd make a good mother up until they reach teenhood. XD and you are right! She is very oblivious, even without memory-loss; she is stupid to the things around her. it's quite the blonde thing. REPLICRIE! I love it! XD yeah, I can totally see Aura as being a great villain, but alas, she is a goody good. XD

INTELLERGENT? WHAT IS THIS NONSENE? ONLY I MAYETH BE INTELLERGENT!