Chapter 12: Hundred-Acre Wood
Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know, what's with the update problem? Well, I'm working on it! Still, I thought I'd update Journey of Hearts with a little twist, after all, it's not Kingdom Hearts with Hundred-Acre Wood. Anyways, disclaimer time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Rita, Reina, and Yukie. They belong to D.J. Scales. I also do not own Luz. She belongs to Keybladeauraofpie.
Enjoy!
After travelling around the worlds, it was nice to have a break every now and then, and after collecting all of the pages of Merlin's book, a small vacation is what we were going to get. After we put the last of the pages together, we found ourselves, in the book! Well, everyone except for Donald and Goofy. We headed to the first page, where we saw a yellow bear wearing a red shirt sitting on a log.
"Think, think. Think, think." Said the bear
Seeing nothing else to do, we walked towards it.
"Hi there. What's wrong?" asked Sora
"Nothing. Just thinking." Said the bear
"Oh." Said Lumen
"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh." Said the bear
"Pooh?" I asked
"Yes?" asked the bear
"Wait a sec, you're Pooh?" asked Luz
"Yes, I'm Winnie the Pooh, Pooh for short. Who are you?" asked Pooh
"I'm Sora." Said Sora
"Lumen." Said Lumen
"The name's Luz." Said Luz
"Hikaru." I said
"But she likes being called Hikari." Rita said jokingly
"What?! I do not!" I exclaimed
"Anyways, I'm Rita." Said Rita
"Reina." Said Reina
"Yukie." Yukie said shyly
"Oh. Hello, Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikari, Rita, Reina, and Yukie. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too?" asked Pooh
"Well, no. Why would we do that? We've only just met." Said Reina
"Because everyone's gone away." Said Pooh
"What do you mean?" asked Yukie
"Well, we all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood. And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh sticks… and every day, I'd eat some honey. Just one smackeral would taste very good right now. But now everyone's gone. All my friends, and my favorite Hunny Tree too. Everyone must've gone away while I was napping, I think… So, who knows? Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well. But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself? Think, think, think." Said Pooh
We all just watched him in confusion.
"Oh, my tumbly getting rather rumbly." Pooh said before he walked away
"Think we should follow him?" asked Sora
"Well, we are in this book. My guess is that we can't get out until we finish the story, but hey, that's my guess." I said
"Looks like you're gonna have to deal with Pooh calling your Hikari for a while." Rita said while smirking
"Only because you told him!" I exclaimed while my face turned into one of rage
"Okay, stop before the two of you kill each other. We might as well go to the next page." Said Reina
"Have any ideas how we do that?" Rita asked
The next thing we knew, we were in front of a tree house, literally. It was a house built in a tree! We went inside, and saw Pooh looking inside what looked like a honey jar.
"Oh, bother. There's no more honey left. If only the Hunny Tree would visit… then I could eat my fill." Said Pooh
He soon exited the house, looking for that Hunny Tree he was talking about.
"Man, I feel bad for the little guy." I said while scratching the back of my head
"Well, now that we've got some of the missing pages in, I'm sure his tree is back." Said Luz
"Yeah, I agree. We could go to the next page then." Yukie said
And just like that, we were whisked in front of a tree with a lot of beehives. As soon as we arrived, we saw some kind of, well, piglet, and when it saw us, it was scared out of his mind, and began running away from us.
"Did we scare it or something?" asked Lumen
"Considering our size compared to the little guy, I'd say yes." I said
We had to go the other way around the tree to find the little guy so he wouldn't run away when we saw him.
"Oh dear! I was j-just… n-never mind. I'm sorry!" The little guy exclaimed before he cowered in fear
We then bent down to his level so he wouldn't be scared, or as much I should say.
"Don't be scared. You're looking for Pooh, right?" asked Lumen
"You know Pooh? *sigh* Oh, y-you see, I-I have something for him. I have to take it to Pooh right away!" exclaimed the little pig
As if on cue, Pooh was walking up the hill towards the tree.
"Oh, Pooh!" the little pig exclaimed
He began running towards him as Pooh began sniffing the air after we had followed him closer to Pooh.
"Oh, I believe I smell a delicious something – a something like honey!" exclaimed Pooh
"Pooh!" exclaimed the little pig
"Hello, Piglet. How have you been?" asked Pooh
"Oh, I-I'm glad to see you. I'd thought you'd gone away. I brought wh-what you asked for." Said Piglet
He brought out a balloon for Pooh.
"Thank you, Piglet. Now I can finally have some honey." Said Pooh
"Really? B-but how?" asked Piglet
"I shall hold on to the balloon and fly like a bee up the Hunny Tree, see." Said Pooh
"But if you take their honey, won't the bees be angry?" asked Piglet
"Hmm… Oh! Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikari, Rita, Reina, and Yukie, if you could only chase away those bees, I'm quite certain I could get a small morsel of honey. Would you help me get some honey?" asked Pooh
"Sure!" exclaimed Sora
"Well, if Sora's game, then I'm game." I said
"Same here." Said Luz
"That goes for me too." Said Lumen
"I kinda don't wanna get stung, but I guess I'm outvoted. I'm in." said Rita
"Me too." Said Reina
"Me three." Said Yukie
As soon as we all agreed, an owl appeared on one of the tree branches.
"Oh. Hello there, Owl." Said Pooh
"Good day, Pooh. What are you doing? Using a balloon to get some honey? Splendid idea! Allow me to offer a few pointers. Ahem! Now, Pooh can get honey by floating up this tree with his balloon. The honey is inside the hollows, not the beehives you see here. There's quite a lot of honey in these holes. If Pooh gets too close, the bees will come out to protect their honey." Said Owl
"Yeah, yeah, we get it already! Let's just cut to the chase and quit wasting time!" exclaimed Rita
"Rita." Said Reina
"What?" asked Rita
"Here's an idea, we each take a branch. There are enough on this tree for one of us to stand on." I said
After lifting Pooh into the air, we helped swat away enough bees for Pooh to get his fill.
"That was yummy in my tummy, but there's room for a bit more." Said Pooh
"Well, I guess all that's left to do is go to the next page." Said Yukie
Before we could, something fell and hit Sora on the head. Looks like he found a summon gem.
"Well, what'd ya know. A new summon gem. I wonder who it's gonna choose this time." I said
"It's either you or Sora." Said Lumen
"I hope it's something cool, like, a dragon or something!" exclaimed Sora
"Just not too big." I said
We went onto the next page, and we were overlooking what looked like to be a vegetable patch. We were approaching the house when a voice cried out:
"Nobody's home! And I'm out of honey!"
"Weird. Someone's barring entry." Said Reina
"I wonder why." Said Luz
"Who cares? Let's bust the door down!" exclaimed Rita
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold your horses Rita! Whoever's home will not like that." I said
"Good point." Sighed Rita
"Let's see if we can find a window or something." Said Lumen
As we circled around, we didn't find a window, but we did find Pooh and Piglet.
"Look, Rabbit's house c-came back! But it looks like Rabbit isn't home. Pooh's been calling and calling, but the house says no one's there." Said Piglet
"Well, plan b it is." I said
"What's plan b?" everyone else asked
"Same as Rita's plan, minus any busting." I said
"That's usually my favorite part." Sighed Rita
We headed to the front door and opened it. As we did, we saw a rabbit looking at a small hole that looked like the same one Pooh was looking through.
"Who is this person named Nobody? Nobody, have you seen Rabbit?" asked Pooh
"No! No Rabbit here! There's no one home!" exclaimed Rabbit
Rabbit sighed as his plan didn't work, and Pooh entered the house through the hole.
"Hello, Rabbit!" exclaimed Pooh
"Why, P-Pooh. What a pleasant surprise. Nice to see you too Piglet. And…" started Rabbit
Rabbit then stared over in our direction.
"Are these new friends?" asked Rabbit
We nodded our heads as Pooh began looking around Rabbit's house.
"P-Pooh, I'm sorry, but… I'm all out of honey at the moment." Said Rabbit
"Right, then why is there a jar of honey on top of those tree branches?" asked Rita
"H-Honey? Now, how did that get up there?" Rabbit asked while looking up at the branches
Talk about a bad liar.
"Would you like some, Pooh? Don't feel you have to, of course." Said Rabbit
"Oh, thank you, Rabbit. I would like just a small smackeral. I'm quite hungry." Said Pooh
Pooh sat at the table, and began eating the honey, though it looked like he was eating the whole jar.
"Um, Pooh Bear… you're not eating the whole pot, are you? Once you start, there's no stopping you, is there…?" asked Rabbit
Well, we might as well leave them alone. We headed outside and we were about to head on our way when we heard a voice cry out:
"H-Help! Please help Pooh!"
Piglet ran up to us, and we ran back inside Rabbit's house, where we saw Pooh stuck in the hole he came in.
"Oh, help and bother. I'm stuck again. I came in through this hole, so it must have shrunk." Said Pooh
"No, his stomach's simply grown." I sighed
We all ran outside and saw Pooh, still stuck alright.
"Oh, how will I eat honey if I'm stuck here? When it's lunch time, perhaps you can bring me a honey jar." Said Pooh
"No honey 'til you're unstuck!" exclaimed Rabbit
He immediately ran up to all seven of us.
"If Pooh doesn't slim down, my house will stay plugged up forever! If only there were something we could do…" started Rabbit
"Well, when I needed to slim down when I was younger, my grandfather would always make a healthy drink, like orange juice with some carrots." I said
"Yuck!" everyone else exclaimed in unison
"I didn't mean in the drink. I meant carrot sticks." I said
"Wait, that's it! A bit of carrot top juice will do the trick! I have a carrot patch on the other side of the stream. Carrot top juice is just the ticket to slimming down a Pooh!" exclaimed Rabbit
Just as Rabbit turned to the carrot patch, he made a strange pose.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Rabbit
He ran to the front of the house, and we followed suit, and we saw something that well, looked like a tiger, but wasn't. It bounced too much, kinda like a kangaroo. In any case, Rabbit looked upset. I didn't blame him. Next thing I knew, we all became a set of human dominos! That, whatever, just knocked us all down!
"Hey there! Name's Tigger! T-I-double-gur-RR. That spells Tigger! Well, now! I don't think I've ever seen you before." Said Tigger
"That was before you turned us into a domino set!" Rita and I exclaimed in unison
"Hello, Tigger. You just bounced my new friends, Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikari, Rita, Reina, and Yukie." Said Pooh
"Hey, Pooh! Say, you're lookin' mighty uncomfy today. Is that some new exercise? Why, bouncin' around is a lot more fun." Tigger said before he bounced away
Finally! I thought he'd never get off of Sora!
"Ugh, man, why does that Tigger love bouncing so much?" asked Luz
"Why? 'Cause bouncin' is what Tiggers do best! Speaking of which, my bouncin' spot has gone and disappeared. So for now, this'll be my new bouncin' ground." Tigger said before bouncing around
"This isn't good." Said Reina
"Not by a longshot." Said Rita
"Tigger's bouncing will ruin my vegetables! And if we don't give Pooh some carrot top juice, he'll be stuck forever. Please help me! Keep Tigger away from my carrots!" exclaimed Rabbit
"Well, we're used to keeping certain things away, but we could give it a shot." Said Luz
"Yeah. After all, we can only try." I said
"With all seven of us working together, we can do it!" exclaimed Lumen
Keeping up with Tigger was easier with all seven of us working together to keep him away from Rabbit's carrot patch. At least we did it after a while.
"What's goin' on? Nobody keeps up with Tiggers! Maybe there's somethin' wrong with my tail…" Tigger thought out loud before he bounced away from Rabbit's carrot patch
After Tigger left, Rabbit came up to us.
"Thank you so much. Now I'd better make that carrot top juice. I'll get the carrots, so please wait inside the house." Said Rabbit
We headed inside, but we thankfully didn't have to wait long for Rabbit.
"Oh, what a day! I gave Pooh the carrot top juice. All we have to do now is push him out. Just a little push should do." Said Rabbit
Sora unfortunately took it the wrong way and tackled Pooh out of the hole into a pile of pots.
"First my vegetable patch and now this…" Rabbit said while trailing off
"Yeah, Sora, next time, we'll pull him out." I said while sweat-dropping
"Sorry." Sora said while scratching the back of his head
"Onto the next page." Said Rita
We all nodded our heads and found ourselves near a river with Pooh and Piglet on the bridge looking into the water.
"Look, Pooh. Something is floating this way." Said Piglet
"I think you're right Piglet. What could it be?" asked Pooh
And it looked like some kind of dark blue donkey, I think.
"Why, it looks like Eeyore! Hello, Eeyore, if it is you." Said Pooh
"Hello, Pooh. Yes, it's me. Could you pull me out? That is, if it's not too much trouble. Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to." Said Eeyore
"I got this job." Rita said while taking off her shoes, stockings, and gloves.
She swam up to Eeyore, and fished him out of the water.
"Thank you, Pooh. Thank you, other you. You know, floating out there, it seemed like something was missing… And something's still missing." Said Eeyore
"Why, Eeyore's tail is gone! Is that what's missing?" asked Piglet
"Let's see… yep, lost it again. Wonder where it went this time. It's not much of a tail, though I'm sort of attached to it. But I don't know why anybody would look for it. Probably won't find it anyway." Said Eeyore
"Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikari, Rita, Reina, and Yukie, why don't we all look for Eeyore's tail?" asked Pooh
"Lost something?" asked a voice
It was Owl again.
"Searching from a high place is the quickest way to find it!" exclaimed Owl
"Owl, can you fly up high and help us look for Eeyore's tail?" asked Sora
"Sorry, but my eyes aren't what they used to be. Too much reading, you know." Said Owl
"Well, there is that swing up there on the tree. Why don't we take Pooh there?" I offered
"Splendid idea! You seven are a bit too big for the swing, but Pooh will fit just nicely!" exclaimed Owl
We took Pooh up to the swing, and he immediately sat down on it.
"Maybe we could give Pooh a little swing on the, well, swing. I'm sure we'll find Eeyore's tail that way!" exclaimed Rita
"Rita, I don't know if that's a good idea." Said Reina
"Come on sis. Just trust me." Said Rita
"I have a bad feeling." Said Reina
Rita began pushing Pooh, and well, pushed a little too hard, and he landed in a pile of sticks. Still, I could've sworn there was something else in the pile. We all ran down the hill, and it was his tail!
"How's it looking?" asked Pooh
"There we go." Lumen said as he finished putting Eeyore's tail back where it belonged
"It's not much of a tail, but it's mine. Thanks, everyone." Said Eeyore
"I wish we could put the Hundred Acre Wood back the way it was, too!" exclaimed Pooh
"Well, I guess the next page awaits us." I said
As soon as I said those words, we appeared in a clearing with a lot of tree stumps. Not only that, but Tigger was here, and a friend of his that looked like a baby kangaroo wearing a blue shirt.
"This here is my bouncin' spot! We can bounce around here all day!" exclaimed Tigger
"Nothing beats bouncin'!" exclaimed Tigger's friend
"You guys wanna bounce, too? It's lotsa fun!" exclaimed Tigger
"Well, why not? I mean, it's not gonna hurt or anything." Said Sora
"I guess I'm game." Said Luz
"Same." Said Lumen
"Ditto." I said
"Outvoted again. We're all in." said Rita
"Bounce this way, please." Tigger said before bouncing to one of the tree stumps
We were basically playing 'following the leader' with Tigger, only we were bouncing instead. Then after all that bouncing, we were hitting nuts at this giant-sized pot! It was only after we broke it that Tigger called it quits.
"Well, I guess we're done here." Said Reina
"I wonder how many pages are left." Said Luz
"One way to find out, we'll just go to the next page." Said Lumen
We then appeared at some kind of place where there was a lot of mud. I have to say, this wasn't looking good on my shoes. We then saw Pooh doing something.
"What are you doing, Pooh?" asked Sora
"Shh. Quiet, or they'll get away!" exclaimed Pooh
"Who?" asked Luz
"The people who took everyone away. See their footprints? We were all sticking together to make sure no one got lost again. But then, I saw some footprints that needed following. So I did. Suddenly, everyone was gone. Bad people must've taken them away!" exclaimed Pooh
"Actually, Pooh, I think those footprints are… um…" started Reina
"Anyway, we'll help you look for your friends." Said Luz
"We'll all split up to search." I said
Thanks to that plan, we found them in no time, and we were suddenly whisked to the next page, and it was now nighttime. We were under the tree with the swing, looking up at the stars.
"I'm so glad we're all together again. I didn't know what to do when I was all alone." Said Piglet
"Aw, Piglet, you gotta be brave." Said Tigger
"You weren't lonely at all?" asked Piglet
"Lonely? Are you kiddin'? I'm a Tigger! The most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one. But I do admit, friends are awfully fun, too!" exclaimed Tigger
"Think, think. Think." Said Pooh
We then turned to look at him.
"Hey, Pooh, what are you thinking about now?" asked Sora
"Oh, well, I'm just thinking about what to think about." Said Pooh
"Well, we're off." I said while looking at the sky
"Guys, where are you going?" asked Piglet
"We're going to go look for our friends. They're waiting for us." Said Sora
"Bounce on back again!" exclaimed Tigger
"I hope you find your friends." Said Piglet
"Hey, don't worry guys. In fact, don't be sad. We will meet again." I said
Lumen's P.O.V.
I widened my eyes in shock at what Hikaru just said. Those words… they were from my dream last night.
*Flashback*
"Wherever this portal will take you, you will be safe. Lumen, I'm sorry, but… I have to place a seal on your memories. You'll remember your life before meeting me, but… you'll forget me, until the seal breaks. Don't be sad, we will meet again. I promise. Now go!" exclaimed the voice
*End Flashback*
That voice. I know it all too well. It's Hikaru's voice. But, I know that was Hikari from my memories. Why would she lie to me, to us about her identity? It doesn't make sense.
"Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikari, Rita, Reina, and Yukie, don't forget… we shall always be here. If you'd like to visit again, that is." Said Pooh
We left the storybook, and found ourselves in Merlin's study. Sora immediately went over to the fairy godmother.
"Oh, another summon gem? Let's help this little one. Here we go! Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" exclaimed the fairy godmother
The light then chose Sora, and we could finally see Cid about the Navigation Gummi, finally! Still, I needed to talk to Hikaru… no, Master Hikari about my past.
"Hikaru, could I talk to you in private?" I asked
"Sure." Said Hikari
I made sure no one was around, and when I did, it was now or never.
"Why did you lie to everyone?" I asked
"What are you talking about?" asked Hikari
"Don't lie to me Hikari!" I exclaimed
"You…" started Hikari
"I don't know anything about my past, except that a girl named Hikari was the key to it, and today, I found out that I was travelling with her this whole time! What connection do you have with my past? Who was I? Who?!" I exclaimed
"Stop it!" Hikari exclaimed while closing her eyes
I then noticed that she was crying. Did I do something back then?
"You wanna know the truth? I placed a seal on your memories! Not all of them though, just the ones relating to me! I barely knew you back then Lumen, but I still traveled the worlds to find you and save you from the darkness! Please, don't make me have a guilty conscience." Hikari said while crying
"I… I didn't…" I started
"Of course you didn't know! I was the one who placed the seal! You shouldn't even be remembering me! Please, I don't want to be even more hurt than I already am!" Hikari said while crying
I then brought her closer to me and hugged her, which caused her tears to stop.
"I didn't know. I'm sorry. I didn't know that by asking I was bringing up more pain for you to bear. I didn't mean to hurt you." I said
"I forgive you Lumen, but please, don't look into it any further. It's for your own good." Hikari said while looking to the ground sadly
I then placed one of my hands on top of her head and slightly ruffled her hair.
"Alright, I won't. Oh, and one more thing. I liked it better when you had your hair long Master Hikari." I said
"Don't call me that. I'm just Hikari." Said Hikari
I smiled as I held her hand and she held mine as we headed towards the first district.
Lumen's starting to remember! Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!