AN: Hey guys, this is it! The big reveal of just what happened to Aqua, Terra, and Ven at the end of the last chapter, and then some. This chapter will have drama, humor, and a whole lot of cameos and reveals to questions you've been wondering since the beginning of this story. With that said, I'm not going to waste anymore of your time with this boring author's note that your probably only reading to see if there's some kind of gag thing involved with one of the characters.
Xion: And yet you're still talking.
Xaldin: Let the fool prattle on, Number XIV. It's not like it matters. They'll all eventually find out how Sora and Kairi will soon encounter...
AN: DAH! SPOILER! Go Go Gadget, oil slick! [raises arm when a tube shoots out of the sleeve of the trench coat he's wearing]
Xaldin: Go go what? DAH! [gets sprayed by blue toothpaste] THAT'S NOT OIL, THAT'S TOOTHPASTE!
AN: I know, and I'm just getting started punk. Go Go Gadget Bubblegum! [large machine pops out of the top hat he's wearing and starts pumping said gum]
Xaldin: Seriously, go go wha-DAH! [gets sprayed with bubblegum] Are you quite finished with this childish display?
AN: You wish. Consider this also as payback for how much I struggled in your boss fight in Kingdom Hearts II. Go Go...
Xaldin: Noooo.
AN: Gadget...
Xaldin: No, no, no.
AN: Hammer! [grins evilly as hammer pops out of hat and lines up to slam Xaldin]
Xaldin: Nonononononononononono-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! [Gets hit by hammer hard, and is sent flying back and forth and even into the hammer again because of the bubblegum]
AN: [looks to Xion as hammer continues hitting Xaldin] You wanna try your luck?
Xion: [raises hands in surrender and speaks quickly] No thanks, I'm good!
AN: Well would you like to do the disclaimer for me? I wanna enjoy this while it lasts.
Xion: Sure thing.
lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
*IMPORTANT EDIT 2/18/2019* Parts of this chapter have been updated recently in order to properly adjust to changes in later chapters of this story. This is partly due to events that were unveiled in Kingdom Hearts 3, and I'm sure if you've read the original version, you know which parts I'm talking about. The original version of that scene will be posted along with other original versions of later pieces/chapters of this story in a separate story, so keep an eye out for that. Enjoy what could be considered a Final Mix version of this story.
Chapter XIII
Sora and Kairi raced so fast through the Lanes Between that even if you were in the Lanes Between standing still you would think that they were shooting stars, but considering why they were moving so fast, one would not be able to blame them in the slightest. While they had solved the problems on Luau Paradise, it was barely that far into the small celebration when Ansem and Xemnas suddenly appeared and cast a strange spell on Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, leading the three to completely disappear, and now, neither of the two Keybearers of the future knew where the three were, nor were they even able to contact them. That is not to say that they feared the worst for the late Master Eraqus's former students, but they still had to hurry if they wanted to discover just what had happened, and there was only one person that could help them to do that. That was why they were able to give a small sigh of relief when they saw the familiar, twisted shape of the Mysterious Tower, home of Master Yen Sid, both in the past and the future.
The minute that they had landed outside the tower, the two Keybearers immediately dismissed both their Keyblade Gliders and armor and made a mad sprint up to the entrance of the tower itself, spotting a depressed looking Donald Duck and Goofy sitting on the steps as they did. "Hi Donald. Hi Goofy," Sora called happily as he past the two, getting confused looks from Mickey's best friends, and whap on the head from Kairi.
"Does your mind completely shut down every time you see someone we know or something," Kairi asked Sora, rhetorically while the boy rubbed his head from her hit. "We're not supposed to know those two yet, remember?"
"Okay, in my defense, it was Donald and Goofy. I spent nearly the entirety of all my adventures with those guys, and they're my best friends after you and Riku. You can't expect me to not forget about our current situation if we run into them," Sora pointed out.
"Well you can at least try," Kairi retorted, though she did have a small smile underneath her otherwise scolding expression. Sora's expression turned sheepish in admittance that the girl he loved was right, but as soon as they reached the door to Yen Sid's study, they quickly became serious just as they dashed into the room. "Master Yen Sid, we need your help in an urgent matter," Kairi declared as she and Sora skidded to a stop at the wizened sorcerer's desk.
While the sight of Yen Sid looking exactly as he did in the future did admittedly set the two off for a minute, they were completely caught off guard when the sorcerer stated, "I am well aware of your situation young wielders of the Keyblade. Though I must admit, I never expected Keyblade Wielders to be as young as yourselves, especially given that you should be much younger in this time."
"I'm guessing that means you already know we're from the future then," Sora asked slowly.
"I had my suspicions, especially when I noticed that there were two of some of the same stars in the sky," Yen Sid admitted with a smile. His expression then turned somber as he then revealed, "However, in the case of helping you to locate Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, I am afraid I cannot help you, for I am just as in the dark on their whereabouts as you are, and as I am in the whereabouts of my own apprentice, Mickey."
"You mean, even you don't know where Mickey is," Kairi asked in disbelief.
Yen Sid shook his head in sadness while somehow keeping his usual stoic demeanor. The news of Yen Sid not knowing where Mickey's past self was, coupled with the news that he did not know what had happened to their three new friends immediately brought Sora and Kairi's spirits down, until Sora finally looked up at the elder sorcerer and asked, "Master Yen Sid, could you tell us what happened to Mickey? The reason he disappeared I mean. The Mickey of our time never really said."
Yen Sid hummed to himself as he stroked his beard in thought for a moment before he finally looked up at the two and began the short tale of why Mickey disappeared, or at least what he knew of it. "Mickey had formed a very strong bond with the students of my dear, late friend, Eraqus, right to the point that he would give his life in order to help them. However, in the last battle that the four had together, Mickey found himself having to bear witness to the events that led the three to lose the precious bond that they shared. Mickey tried to do what he could to save that bond, but somehow, nothing he said made anything better. Instead, it only seemed to worsen things, until he found himself watching them all walk away from each other in anger, resentment, and even betrayal. Ever since then, Mickey has blamed himself for what had happened between his three friends, and has now seemed to have lost all belief in himself and in hope in general. I was honestly surprised when he did not return here to first hand over his Keyblade out of a belief that he was not worthy of it, but instead used the Star Shard he borrowed from my study to fling himself to a distant world that I have not been able to locate. I have tried all I can to find my wayward apprentice, but it has all been in vain. I can only assume it to mean that Mickey does not wish for me or anyone to find him at this time."
Sora and Kairi both looked down in sadness, thinking about how terrible it was for such a thing to have happened to Mickey. Ever since they first met the mouse king, they had always found him to never give up on anyone or anything, and that he would always stay true to his words, so to hear that something could have broken his spirit so greatly was actually quite heartbreaking for the two of them. Kairi then glanced up again as she asked, "If the only reason you can't find Mickey is because he doesn't want to be found, then why are you having a hard time locating Terra, Aqua, and Ven?"
Yen Sid stood up from his seat once again as he explained, "I have tried everything I could to find them, but I sensed that my efforts would be in vain when I saw that their stars had vanished from the sky. They are not surrounded by darkness, but they are not there either."
"So does that mean that…they're…," Sora could not bring himself to finish his question, as the thought was too horrible to even consider.
"No, I do not believe for a moment that they have perished," Yen Sid stated as he walked over to his window.
"So then, what happened to them? Where could they have gone," Kairi asked, clearly desperate for answers on her friends' whereabouts.
Yen Sid merely closed his eyes in thought, as he found that for the first time in many years, he did not have the answer to Kairi's question. All the same, he did have one theory as to what had happened to Eraqus's students, but he did not want to give the two false hope by leading them to think that Aqua and the others were actually much closer than they thought.
In the Mysterious Tower of the future, Donald was pacing back and forth impatiently while Goofy found he could not sit still due to how worried he was, which was understandable really. Ever since they had heard of what had happened to Aqua, Terra, and Ven, they were all considerably on edge, hoping against hope that Sora and Kairi's trip to see Master Yen Sid's past self would be of some help, especially since the present day master sorcerer did not have the answers they were seeking. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, Roxas finally approached his girlfriend and asked, "Anything Naminé?"
Naminé continued to stand still for a moment, indicating she was in the trance she usually entered whenever she was either communicating with Sora and Kairi or just simply observing what they were doing, until she opened her eyes, looked up with a sad look, and shook her head as she said, "No. The Master Yen Sid of the past doesn't know anymore than we do about Aqua, Terra, and Ventus." She then looked over her shoulder to Mickey and added, "But he did tell them about why you went into a self-imposed exile. I'm really sorry Mickey. You shouldn't have had to go through all that."
"Gosh, Naminé, it's not really that big of a deal," Mickey said in slight remembrance of those events as well. "After all, we all go through some difficult times that challenge us as people, but the real trick to dealing with those times, is how you learn from them to become a better person than you were before."
"Yeah," Roxas nodded in agreement. "Nobody's perfect, not even Mickey. I think we all saw evidence of that during the Battle of a Million Heartless back in Radiant Garden when we thought Goofy was dead. I still remember how angry Mickey looked after seeing his friend in that state."
"Gwarsh fellers, I really didn't mean to worry ya so much, but I thought you'd have remembered that I get bumped on the head all the time, even if it does hurt," Goofy said sheepishly. Donald then stopped pacing before stomping up to Goofy and then slamming his staff down on Goofy's foot. "OUCH! That hurts too," Goofy cried out as he held the foot that had been hit.
"Good, because I'm gonna keep doing it to make sure you never do something like that again! We were all worried sick about you and really upset," Donald quacked in retort, crossing his arms and turning away as he did in an attempt to hide how upset he really was when he remembered that time as well.
Sadly, the duck wizard's attempts to hide his concern for his friend all failed when Roxas was able to see past it. "Awe Donald. I knew you really were a big softy under those rough, ruffled feathers," Roxas teased with a smirk.
"WAK! No I'm not," Donald immediately protested.
"Still, it kinda makes me wonder why he took so long to realize that Sora had turned into a Heartless and kept hitting him on the head," Goofy then added in good humor.
Donald immediately turned a glare onto Goofy as he asked, "Why can't you all ever forget about that?" He then went on to let out his usual quacks and noises of anger and annoyance, only to receive a good amount of laughter from the others in response.
Everyone continued to laugh at the short-tempered duck's expense until Roxas noticed that Donald had ceased his tantrum and was now looking off to a corner of the room. Thinking that they may have pushed their friend a little too much, Roxas leaned down a little before he said, "Hey come on, Donald. We were just teasing ya."
"No, no, no. It's not that," Donald immediately rebuffed. He then pointed to where he was looking and said, "There's something weird happening over there."
Everyone immediately ceased what they were doing, except for Naminé since she could not cease her work with the spell on Sora and Kairi unless Yen Sid were able to take over her for a moment, and immediately saw what had grabbed Donald's attention. At first, it seemed like nothing more than a light sparkle that one would expect from a cleaned area, but as it slowly grew larger and brighter, they could clearly see that it was some form of object that was shinning brilliantly with light. It had no identifiable shape, and in terms of colors, it seemed to vary every so often, with the most common colors being light blue, green, and brown, and only pure white appearing more often than any of them. Thinking that it might be trouble, Goofy and Donald both summoned their respective weapons while Mickey summoned his Star Seeker Keyblade.
"Roxas, be careful," Naminé warned her boyfriend when she saw that he had ended up being the only one brave enough to try and get closer to it. When he saw the girl's attention was beginning to waver a little, Yen Sid immediately moved to take over keeping the spell on Sora and Kairi intact just to be on the safe side, something Naminé was very grateful for.
Roxas looked to Naminé with a light smile that truly showed that he was Sora's Nobody before reassuring her that he would not do anything stupid, although, considering that he was Sora's Nobody, not everyone was entirely certain of that. Donald was just about to call Roxas out on just that when object suddenly surged with energy and began to glow brighter. "What'd you do? What'd you do," Donald demanded of the blonde.
"I didn't do anything, I barely even moved towards it that much," Roxas protested as the object's glow continued to rise in intensity, prompting Roxas to run over to Naminé and attempt to shield her while Donald and Mickey immediately ducked behind Goofy and his shield. They all then heard the faint sounds of an explosion, which was then followed by the sounds of several people landing roughly on the ground, some landing on top of others in a dog-pile from the sound of it, and upon opening their eyes to see what had happened, even Master Yen Sid's expression immediately became incredibly shocked at what they saw.
"Oh boy," Donald moaned.
"Unbelievable," Roxas whispered as he remained next to Naminé, who had since allowed Yen Sid to take over maintaining the spell since she was certain that her shock would have been too much of a distraction at what they were all seeing.
There, lying on the floor in front of them all in a pile up was none other than Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, the last of which was at the bottom of the pile and had begun tapping his hand on the ground rapidly in an attempt to get his friends to get off of him. Neither of the other two seemed to notice, or were just to groggy to notice their young friend's predicament, as they were also slow to raise themselves up a little, moaning a little as they seemed to nurse slight headaches, until Terra finally spoke up and said, "Okay, don't want to do that again."
"Good to know. Now can you guys please get off? You're crushing me," Ven told the two on top of him in a muffled holler.
Aqua and Terra's faces immediately morphed into concern when they finally noticed where the blonde member of their trio was, until Terra noticed something else and adopted a smirk instead. "I don't know Ven," Terra commented in a teasing tone. "I'd have thought you would enjoy having a woman pressed up against you so closely like that."
Ven's struggling immediately halted as Aqua also froze as well, for it was at that point that the two of them finally realized that Aqua was lying directly on top of Ven with her chest pressed into his back. Aqua's face immediately turned bright red in embarrassment and anger as she jumped up and swiped the laughing Terra, trying to scratch his eyes out or slap him for his comment while Ven just slowly stood up and looked away in an attempt to hide his own bright red face. After Terra managed to swiftly evade the blunette's wrath several times, Aqua finally relented and simply snarled, "You ever make a perverted comment like that again, and I'll burn you to a crisp with every single fire spell I know, starting from one spot in particular."
"Okay, okay, relax, I was just kidding," Terra said as he raised his hands in surrender. "Besides, it's not like Ven's not thinking about it too, right buddy?"
"Don't…don't drag me into this, and stop talking already before she really follows through on that threat," Ven mumbled under his breath.
The three would have continued on like this had they not heard a familiar voice that made them all freeze in shock when it cried out, "You're here?!"
"Was that…" Ven started to ask.
"But it can't be…" Terra whispered in equal shock.
"Mickey," Aqua then whispered as they all finally turned around and saw the king of Disney Castle standing before them with his Keyblade still out, having been to shocked to even think of dismissing it. Aqua's face then lit up with joy as she raced forward and scooped the anthropomorphic mouse into her arms and hugged him tightly as she cried, "Mickey! It's really you! You're here!"
Everyone could only continue to stare in shock as Aqua hugged the struggling Mickey tightly, his words being muffled by Aqua, until Yen Sid finally broke the silence by saying, "Inconceivable. Truly an unexpected development."
The two boys both gained looks of confusion until Ven noticed Donald and Goofy were there as well and immediately brightened up as he exclaimed, "Donald, Goofy! It's great to see you guys again!"
"Aw shucks, it's great to see you too, Ven," Goofy replied as he and Donald accepted Ven into a group hug. "Well, good to see you up and about after all these years anyway."
"What? What'd you mean up and about, or after all these years for that matter," Ven asked in confusion. "I know it's been a while, but it hasn't been that long since I last saw you guys."
"Maybe not for you, but it has been for us," Donald quacked in reply.
"Okay, now I'm really confused," Ven admitted. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Aqua, please, put me down," Mickey finally demanded in a muffled cry, causing Aqua to finally release Mickey and set him down on the ground as the mouse had requested. "Listen, there's a lot more going on here than any of you realize," Mickey then revealed. "But it is really good to see you all again after all this time. I just wish it were under better circumstances."
"Why do you keep saying stuff like that," Aqua asked.
"Yeah, come on Mickey. It hasn't been that long," Ven said. He then took notice of the outfit that Mickey was wearing and the fact that it was the same style but in different colors as his old one from when they last met, and could not help but say, "Nice new outfit by the way. That's way better than you're old black and silver one."
Mickey was about to thank Ven for compliment where Terra suddenly cut in from where he was at the window, saying, "Guys, you…you might want to see this."
Aqua and Ven did not like the sound of horror in Terra's voice when he spoke, but all the same, they still found themselves moving over to the star shaped window, only to gasp in horror themselves when they looked out to see barely any stars in the sky at all. "What…what's going on," Ven whispered, fearing the answer.
"Are…are those all the worlds that are left," Aqua whispered through the hand she had placed over her mouth in shock.
"It gets worse," Terra warned them as he pointed downward, drawing the other two's gazes in that direction. The minute Aqua and Ven saw what Terra was pointing at, they wished that they had not, for they saw all of their friends from other worlds, and many other strange people that they did not recognize fighting against a vast army of Heartless, Unversed, and some silver skinned creatures that they assumed to be the Nobodies that Sora and Kairi had told them about.
Beyond the creatures of darkness, they also saw Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Xemnas leading the charge, along with many other villains from some of the worlds that they had encountered in the past, and some other familiar individuals that they recognized from their first visit to Radiant Garden as well. Terra's eyes had narrowed a bit upon seeing Xigbar, as he remembered encountering the Nobody back when he was Braig, and Ventus and Aqua were also shocked to see the Nobodies of Even, Ienzo, Dilan, and many others as well that they recognized. They also spotted some other people using strange weapons and Keyblades of their own fighting against the forces of darkness, but the fact that there were so many people fighting in such a battle on Yen Sid's world was a sight that they found truly terrifying.
"What is all this," Aqua whispered in horror. "Just what happened to us to cause us to end up in such a nightmare?"
"Ansem and Xemnas cast a spell on you," Yen Sid answered, gaining the threes attention as he approached them, having let Naminé resume her duties of maintaining the spell on Sora and Kairi. "The moment that happened, you three disappeared completely, right before Sora and Kairi's eyes. It would seem that the spell they used was a much more powerful version of the one that we had cast on Sora and Kairi and now…you are here, in their time. It truly saddens me to say that this is the future that they were seeking your aid in preventing."
"This is…Sora and Kairi's time," Ven whispered in horror, his expression matching Aqua and Terra's almost perfectly.
"Not a pretty sight, is it," Roxas asked, drawing the threes attention on to him. The minute the three saw Roxas, they all did a double take, especially Ventus, as the sight of the Nobody had completely thrown them for a loop. None of them could say anything until Roxas casually smiled and asked, "What? Surprised to see me?"
"A little," Ven admitted. "I'm more surprised that I not only lived through all this, but that I haven't even aged a day."
Roxas could not stop himself from laughing in response, and he was not able to say anything in reply until he finally calmed down and corrected, "Hate to break it to ya, Ven, but I'm not you. At least, not exactly. My name's Roxas; I'm Sora's Nobody."
"You're Roxas," Ven, Terra, and Aqua all exclaimed at the same time.
When Roxas nodded in reply, all three of the Keybearers out of time could only stare in silence before Ventus finally smiled a bit and said, "Well that explains a lot."
"Wait, what about Sora and Kairi," Aqua suddenly asked. "Are they alright?"
"They are fine," Yen Sid assured Aqua. He then gestured to the twos apparently sleeping forms, which Naminé was standing in the middle of as he added, "They are both still in your own era, greatly worried about you, but they are alright, even if they are vulnerable in their current state in this time."
"Don't worry, I'm letting them know you're all alright as we speak," Naminé then assured the three.
"So I'm guessing that means you're Naminé," Terra assumed, getting a nod in reply from the blonde girl. Terra then smiled a little as he leaned over to Ven and whispered, "You know, she's actually kind of cute. You two would probably make a good couple."
"Terra," Ven shouted in embarrassment, while Roxas threw a glare at the older boy.
"Don't get any ideas," Roxas warned them both. "She's my girlfriend."
Aqua was not paying attention at this point, as she was quick to ask Naminé if there was any way she and her friends could talk to Sora and Kairi directly. When Naminé told her that it was not possible because Aqua did not have the same powers as her, the blunette immediately became a bit depressed and found herself silently wishing there was a way that they could communicate with Sora and Kairi, even for a minute. She was immediately jumped out of her thoughts when she suddenly heard Kairi's voice saying, "Don't worry Aqua. Everything's going to be okay in no time. I know it."
When Terra and Ven saw Aqua suddenly become startled for no apparent reason, they immediately became concerned and quickly asked what was wrong. "Did either of you two just hear Kairi talking in your heads," Aqua asked them, getting a confused look from everyone in the room.
"I think I would've noticed if a pretty girl was talking in my head," Ventus told Aqua in reply.
"Hey, watch it! For one thing, you're talking about a woman who is a lot younger than you, and for another thing that's my girlfriend you're talking about. I-I mean my good friend. My very good friend. In other words, you no touchy," Sora's voice then called out into Ventus's head, startling him as well.
"Okay, that I heard," Terra stated. "Please tell me we're not all going crazy."
"Sorry to freak you guys out, but believe me, you're not going crazy," Kairi's voice assured Terra. "Master Yen Sid in this time just used a spell that would allow us to communicate with you through the D-Link even though you're in a different time, but you'll need to have the Master Yen Sid of that time cast the same spell in that time so that it doesn't wear off."
Aqua was the first to snap out of her surprised state and quickly informed everyone of what she and the other two had just heard, and after having Naminé confirm Aqua's claims, Yen Sid was quick to hurry to his spell books so that he could cast the spell that they needed.
It took a little while for Yen Sid to find the spell that they needed, but he eventually did find it with a little help from Mickey, and was thus able to cast the spell on Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. With that detail out of the way, there was only one thing left that they needed to deal with. "How'd they get sent here to begin with or why were they sent here for that matter," Roxas finally asked, voicing the question everyone was wondering.
"It's hard to say," Mickey admitted. "Maybe they thought that by trapping them in this timeline, they'd have permanently altered history in some way, or that by causing them to see this future, they'd have demoralized Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. Of course, that first one doesn't seem very likely given how much of a role that these three play in Xehanort's plans."
"What if the spell wasn't meant to send us to this time at all and we just ended up here because we had spent so much time with Sora and Kairi. It could've just been a freak accident in which Xemnas and Ansem's spell collided with the one you're using on Sora and Kairi to keep them in the past and caused its affects to change and then send us into the future instead of what it was originally intended to do," Terra then theorized.
"It does seem a bit likely," Aqua admitted. "But I doubt that would really be the case."
"Does it really matter at this point," Ven then asked. "What I want to know is how the hell are we going to get back again so we can stop all this shit from happening?"
"Ven, language," Aqua and Naminé both said at the same time. The two girls looked at each other in surprise for a minute, and then started giggling at the fact that they had said the same thing at the same time.
"Oh great, now there's two of 'em," Roxas muttered under his breath, just low enough that he was sure Naminé would not be able to hear. Unfortunately, she did hear him and threw him a glare in response, which had Roxas immediately worrying for his life as he quickly said, "Love you sweetie."
"He is so whipped," Terra muttered.
"Trust me, you don't know the half of it," Sora told Terra as he snickered a little.
"Getting back on track though, Ven's right. We do need to get back quickly if we can stop this from happening," Aqua cut in before anyone else could say anything to further tease Roxas. "Could we use the same spell that you used on Sora and Kairi?"
"I am afraid not," Yen Sid replied sadly. "The spell we used could only work on Sora and one other person close to him, so long as they did not play a major part in the events of the time Sora was traveling to or did not have a Keyblade at the time. Not only that, but while Sora and Kairi are both in the past, their physical bodies are here with us in this time. In essence, they are like spirits given physical form, and we cannot have you return in such a way since you need to be there in that time personally."
"But if we don't find a way to get them back, what'll happen to this time," Donald asked.
"Master, is there anything in your book that tells about this," Mickey asked.
"No," Yen Sid replied sadly. "The records in the book of Keyblade Wielder history have now begun to shift and change so much that I can hardly tell what stories are supposed to be in it and which are not. Even so, I never once saw anything in it that told of something like this happening to any wielders, let alone Aqua, Terra, and Ventus."
Everyone soon found themselves hanging their heads down sadly, because they knew that if what Yen Sid said was true, then they had no way of knowing what should or should not change in the past anymore, and they also had no idea how to send Aqua, Terra, and Ventus home, if there even was a way to do so. While there were likely other spells they could use, they either required a great deal of more power than anyone currently gathered in the tower currently had, or it required the use of dark magic, and no one was willing to use something so dangerous. If Yen Sid truly did not have a spell that could send the three back to their time, then what chance was there to save the future now?
The despairing silence continued to reign throughout the room until Roxas suddenly hummed in thought, and everyone quickly turned to see that the Ven's look-a-like had gained a thoughtful expression. "What's the matter," Donald asked.
"It's nothing, just…," Roxas replied. He then went silent for another minute before he finally added, "I think that…there might be a way to send you guys back to your time after all. The only problem is that it would be incredibly risky to get to it, and I'm not even one hundred percent sure it would even work."
"Well what is it," Terra asked. "Given that we don't seem to have many other options, I think we're more than willing to take what we can get."
Roxas hesitated for a minute before he finally sighed and then looked to everyone and explained what he had thought of. "Back when I was with Organization XIII, I would sometimes wander around the Castle That Never Was if I was really bored and I didn't feel like going to get Sea-Salt Ice Cream. Axel and Xion did the same thing to, sometimes we even all did it together, but we usually all did so on our own. Anyways, as I was doing so one day, I noticed that the door to a room that was always locked was slightly open, and I could hear someone inside. I had passed that room plenty of times in the past, and I knew it was the one room that no one other than Xemnas was allowed to enter unless they wanted to risk getting turned into a Dusk, but seeing it opened a little like that and hearing voices coming from inside made me curious as to what was in there, so I went up and looked in as quietly as I could."
"What was in there," Ven asked when Roxas paused in his story.
"From what I could tell, Xemnas was in there along with three other people. After I joined all of you guys I found out that two of the three were actually Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xehanort, but I never did find out who the third person was. He was always standing in the shadows, and even when he wasn't, he was always wearing his hood up, but I did see that he was wearing a more extravagant version of the coats that all the members of Organization XIII normally wear. It was mostly black of course, but it was decorated with silver and dark gold designs that looked like nothing I had ever seen before. Anyways, I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but from what I could see, they were all gathered around some sort of window that was showing a bunch of different images that I couldn't recognize. At least, I couldn't recognize them until after this whole thing with time travel and other stuff started. After I heard about the mission that Master Yen Sid and Mickey wanted to send Sora and Kairi on, it all finally made sense. The images that they were looking at in that window were actually events in history; your history from when your journeys began."
Everyone gasped in awe at what Roxas had said, not entirely sure what to make of it, until Yen Sid finally whispered, "Could it be…an actual Time Window?"
"Master," Naminé asked in confusion.
"What's a Time Window," Aqua asked. "I've never heard of anything like that before."
"I'm not surprised," Yen Sid admitted. "It is a very rare magic that even fewer have ever learned to use. With it, one can look into any moment in time and view the events that take place as though they were watching a recording in a window. Some that have learned this magic have used it to predict the future, but this is the first time I've heard of someone using it to view the past."
"Maybe that's how Xehanort caught onto our plan so quickly," Mickey theorized. "If he could see the past like that, then he probably saw Sora and Kairi land in that time period the minute we sent them there."
"It is possible," Yen Sid stated. "But what's more important is that we now have a way to send Aqua, Terra, and Ventus back to their time."
"How," Aqua asked. "I thought you said that the Time Window magic could only be used to view moments in time."
"Normally, that would be the case, but if a group of Keyblade Wielders were to focus their power on the window from both sides at the same time, then the energy of the Time Window would increase to the point where it could send someone through it to the time it shows," Yen Sid then revealed.
"So all we have to do is get Sora and Kairi to find where the place that the window is viewing is and have them send some power into it at the same time that we do," Ven stated.
"Not quite," Yen Sid corrected. "It would only work if the number of Keyblade Wielders focusing power on both sides is exactly the same. In other words, all three of you will need to focus your power on the window from this side at the same time that Sora, Kairi, and one other person does from their side."
"Well then why bring it up," Roxas asked. "Last time I checked, there were only three Keyblade Wielders in that time, and all three of them are right here."
"No, there wasn't three of us; there was four of us," Aqua corrected with a small smile on her face as she glanced towards one of the people in the room.
Everyone immediately turned to see who Aqua was looking towards, only to find that her gaze was focused on none other than Mickey. When he realized what Aqua was suggesting, Mickey quickly protested, "No, that's not possible. Maybe if I were there myself I could do it, but I doubt we'd ever be able to convince my past self to help without you three there to help encourage him to do so."
"We don't really have much of a choice," Roxas argued. "If we want these three to get back to where they belong in history, we're going to need your past self's help."
Mickey finally sighed in defeat, admitting that they were right and agreeing to have Sora and Kairi go after his past self right away. With that done, Roxas then looked to Terra, Aqua, and Ventus as he then said, "I can guide you guys to the World That Never Was, but getting there in and of itself is going to be difficult as it is. We'll be flying right into the lion's den, and even four Keyblade Wielders won't be enough to successfully pull off an invasion of Xehanort's home base. We would need a small army at minimum to pull it off."
"You're going to need more than that, son, and I think I've got just what you need to pull it off," a new voice suddenly interrupted. Everyone immediately turned to the door and saw that a man with blonde hair and blue eyes had entered the room. The man in question was dressed in an outfit that was mostly blue, with red and white stripes going around his stomach, and a silver star in the center of his chest that was highlighted by dark silver and red outlines. The rest of his outfit comprised of a brown belt, dark red gloves and boots, and a blue mask with the letter "A" above the eyes. As he walked into the room, everyone also saw that the sides of his shoulders had a decorative, red and silver letter "A", and a red, white, and blue shield with a star in the center was strapped on his back.
"Steve Rogers, alias Captain America at your service," the man introduced himself as when he finally reached Roxas and held out his hand for a handshake, which the blonde immediately accepted. "My team and I heard all about your efforts here, and we only just recently arrived to see how we could help. I was told by a man named Leon to come up here and speak to all of you directly, and I couldn't help overhearing when I finally made it up."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Roxas," the blonde Nobody replied. "But I hope you know that going to the World That Never Was and invading Xehanort's base is a very risky move."
"I'm well aware of the risks involved, and so is the rest of my team, and I can tell you right now son, that none of us are going to care about that," Steve immediately revealed. "We've faced incredible odds defending our world and other worlds many times before, and we've always managed to come out on top. We may not be an entire army, but I guarantee that we're better than any army you could ask for in such an operation."
Terra then walked up to the captain and said, "I hope you realize that there's a very real chance that some of you may not make it back."
"Believe me, we are, and like I said, we don't care," Steve stated. "We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that there is no possible way in which the enemy comes out on top. We've already failed to protect our world, but you can be absolutely certain that we'll avenge it."
Roxas looked to Terra, who then exchanged a few glances with Aqua and Ventus, as it was really down to those three to make a decision as to whether or not they would bring someone along on this mission. After one final silent exchange between the three friends, Aqua walked up to Steve and held out her hand as she smiled and said, "We'd be happy to have your help, Captain America."
Steve smiled and accepted the offered hand before turning around and beginning to make his way back outside. He then paused for a minute before he said, "Before you go thinking of how we're going to get there, don't worry about it. We've got a ride that should have enough room for everyone."
Roxas nodded in response and then motioned for Terra, Aqua, and Ven to follow him and Steve. The three only paused for a minute to exchange a quick goodbye with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Naminé, and Yen Sid before doing so, and as soon as they had left, Mickey turned to Naminé to finally inform her of the location where Sora and Kairi could find his past self.
Sora and Kairi were able to hear everything that was said in the future, and the minute they heard the plan, they were eager to do their part and find Mickey's past self. That was why the minute Naminé told them where they could find the past version of their friend they immediately bid Yen Sid farewell and raced out the door and into the Lanes Between so that they could travel to the world they needed to go to. After flying off in the direction that Mickey had said they would need to fly for a few hours or so, Sora had to comment, "You know considering how far we're having to travel to get to this place it actually doesn't seem that surprising that Master Yen Sid was having trouble finding Mickey."
"I doubt that distance would really matter all that much in how effective Master Yen Sid's locator spells would be, Sora," Kairi chuckled in reply. "But if what Mickey told us about the place itself is any indication, it could have more of something to do with the weather there."
"Well yeah, there's that too," Sora conceded. "Still, I just hope Mickey was kidding when he said we'd have to make sure we're able to dress warmly while we're there."
Kairi had to laugh a bit in response to that before she blushed a little as she said, "Well, if one of us isn't warm enough we could always…snuggle together and share body heat…or something."
Sora's face immediately turned crimson under his helmet when he heard that, and he immediately fell into a stuttering mess, not knowing that was Kairi's intention in saying that, even though the thought of snuggling up with Sora to stay warm on a cold night was very appealing to her. They then elected to shake themselves out of their shared embarrassment and just race the rest of the way to their destination, hoping that they would be able to find the past Mickey and convince him to help them before it was too late.
On a distant world, snow was glowing white on the mountain tops with not a foot print to be seen. A relative kingdom of isolation save for one small figure that held a sword shaped like a key. The figure seemed to stare at the obvious Keyblade for a minute before he finally dismissed it in a flash of light and began trudging through the snow, holding his hood up as best he could in the wind. He had come to this world hoping to isolate himself from everyone he knew out of a feeling of having failed them, but at the moment, he was just hoping to find some shelter from the sudden, light snow storm that had just came up out of nowhere.
His prayers for shelter were probably not the best thing to be worrying about right then, because before he had even realized it, he had stepped on a bad spot of frozen ground, and began a very slippery slide down the mountain. Naturally a loud scream of fright was soon to follow and then echo through the high peaks while he tumbled and slid at an uncontrollable speed. Eventually, his tumbling through the snow made him around to the point where he was wrapped up in a massive snowball, and that same snowball was rolling even faster across the ground down the mountain than anything before, until it was launched into the air over the edge of a cliff that was jutting outwards like a ski-jump ramp. When the snowball landed at the edge of the forest, it finally broke apart and freed the small figure from its cold confines, but his tumble did not stop. No, instead, it just continued on, leading him to bounce off the ground a few times until he had rebounded off a high wall and crashed through a window, letting the cold air into the room he finally landed in.
"Oww," the figure moaned as he slowly propped himself up. "Well, that wasn't something I'd like to do again anytime soon."
"Who's there," a small voice called out, alerting the figure to another presence in the room. When he spun around to see who was calling to him, while still keeping his face hidden, he was a little surprised to see a small girl trying to hide behind her bed, but only just peeking out from behind enough for him to see her pale blonde hair, and her nervous, crystal blue eyes. Her fear was probably more visible than anything else about her at the moment, as even without the stutter, he could tell that she practically petrified. "S-stay back. Don't come too close."
"Gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," the figure tried to reassure her, but when he saw her flinch away after he attempted to get closer, he immediately raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt you."
"That's not what I'm worried about," the girl revealed. "I don't want to hurt you."
Now the figure was confused. Why would she be worried about hurting him when he was the one who just crashed into her room? Most people would be worried about getting hurt by the intruder, especially when they were a scared child, not the other way around. Whatever the case, he was still determined to show that he meant no harm. "It's okay. I didn't mean to come in here anyway. I just sort of…stumbled in as I was trying to find a place to hide," the figure admitted as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Huh," the girl muttered as she started coming a little further out from her hiding place. "What do you mean? Why do you need to hide?"
"Well, there's a few reasons, but one of the really big ones is that…I'm not really from around here," the figure replied, and at that point, he finally lowered the hood of his coat to reveal his face to her, along with his very large, mouse ears. "My name's Mickey, Mickey Mouse. I'm not really supposed to tell people this, but the truth is I came here from another world."
"Another world? You mean…other worlds are real," the girl asked in awe, finally stepping out from behind the bed, and allowing Mickey to see the blue dress she was wearing, along with her rather pale skin. Though, it was not a sickly kind of pale, and just from looking at her, Mickey could tell in an instant that this girl was very likely to become a very beautiful young woman when she grew up. "I always thought they were just a legend."
"Nope. They're real all right, but they're supposed to be kept a secret," Mickey explained, happy to see that she did not seem too frightened now. "Not many people are even able to travel to other worlds either, but some people, like me, do possess a special kind of magic that allows them to get to other worlds."
"So you have magic powers too," the girl asked, only to cover her mouth in a panic, indicating she was not supposed to have asked the question that way.
Mickey paid it little mind, and instead, simply nodded before holding his hand out and summoning forth the Star Seeker Keyblade. A part of him could not help but chuckle a bit at how the girl stared at the mystical sword, looking like a child that was seeing a grand display of Christmas lights for the first time even as she reached out to run her hand along the blade's cool shaft, but he still managed to keep himself under control enough so that he could explain a little more. "With this Keyblade, I have all kinds of magic powers, including ones that keep me safe from other magics, or at least magics that aren't from my world," Mickey explained. "I'm supposed to use it to keep all the worlds safe, but some things happened to some very good friends of mine, and now…well, I don't think I did a very good job trying to keep them safe, so how can I really be expected to keep the worlds safe."
The girl stared at Mickey for a minute, having heard the sadness in his voice, and upon staring at him for a while, she seemed to find a sort of kinship in the mouse king. Reaching that conclusion actually brought a faint smile to her lips while her hands slowly worked to take off the gloves she was wearing. Once she had removed her gloves, she carefully reached out and placed a hand on Mickey's arm, hoping that she was giving a reassuring feeling to him as she did, and let out a quiet sigh of relief when she saw that nothing was happening to him as a result. After Mickey gave her a kind smile in return for what she was trying to do, she started to think that maybe she was doing a good job of trying to cheer him up, and that gave her the confidence to finally introduce herself to him.
"I'm Elsa, princess and future queen of Arendelle," the girl lightly bowed to Mickey. "I'm sorry to hear about your friends, Mickey, but I'm sure you did everything that you could."
"I appreciate you saying that, Elsa, but…" Mickey started to say, only for his ears to twitch a little, indicating that he heard something, and he immediately spun towards the door. "Uh-oh! Someone's coming! I've gotta hide!"
Elsa glanced around her room nearly as frantically as Mickey before she finally just grabbed him, set him down on the bed, and told him not to move as she hurried over to the window sill. A minute later, a man and woman that Mickey quickly assumed were her parents walked in, both looking rather concerned for their daughter, but he was surprised to see that they were being extremely cautious in approaching her. "Elsa, is everything all right," the princess's father asked.
"Yes, why do you ask," Elsa politely questioned in return.
"We thought we heard something crash in your room," her mother explained.
"Oh…um, I-I just…fell out of bed after having a bad dream," Elsa lied, hoping that her parents would believe that excuse. "It was about…that night with Anna, and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought stargazing from the window might help me calm down a bit."
Mickey was curious about what Elsa was referring to and who Anna was, but it seemed that the child's little fib managed to fool her parents. Just as they were about to leave though, the king looked to see Mickey on the bed, and the mouse did his best to not move from his current pose of having his arms spread wide, palms open, while a huge smile adorned his face. "What's this," the king asked as he drew closer to Mickey.
"Um…It's a new toy, I found outside my door. I think Anna left it there as a late birthday present or something," Elsa quickly explained.
"Well, it's certainly cute, but I'm not so sure that the grey and black clothing the little guy's wearing are all that suitable for him," the queen noted, making Mickey frown on the inside a little, but he did his best to not let it show on the outside. "Maybe something with a little more color like red and white, and maybe a little yellow."
"I was actually just telling Mickey the same thing," Elsa quickly said, not realizing she had slipped up by saying his name until it was too late.
Apparently, the slip was not too bad, as her father merely chuckled and said, "Already named him, huh?"
"Well, it certainly suits him better than anything you could probably come up with, dear. You'd probably call him something like Mortimer," the queen teased.
Elsa could not help but giggle a little at her parents' silliness, and then bade them goodnight after promising to not stay up stargazing for too long. Once she was sure that her parents were gone, she looked to tell Mickey he could move again, only to see that the mouse had already figured that out and was breathing a sigh of relief when he did. "That was too close," Mickey panted, having held his breath a little while the king and queen were in the room. "Thanks for covering for me, Elsa."
"You're welcome," Elsa nodded. When she saw the faint amount of questioning in his eyes, her smile faded a little as she guessed, "You're probably wondering about some of the things my parents and I mentioned, aren't you?"
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious, but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Mickey admitted.
"No, it's all right," Elsa reassured him before removing her gloves once again. "Just watch."
She then waved her hands a little, and the next thing Mickey knew, it was actually snowing in the room. Not just snowflakes falling into the room from the window, but like the snow was actually falling from the ceiling itself. A minute later, Elsa had waved her hand again, and a snowman sprung up from the ground, followed by a full ice sculpture that was perfect duplicate of him, much to his amusement. Mickey continued to watch as Elsa kept waving her hands and creating a mini-winter wonderland in her room before finally just relaxing and coming to a stop with her display. "That's amazing," Mickey breathed in awe. Sure, he could use ice magic with the Keyblade, but it was nothing like what he had just seen this girl do. "You can actually control snow and ice, and do all sorts of things like that with it."
"I wish I could control it," Elsa sighed, once again looking very sad. "All this power has ever done is hurt people. I can't be in the same room as my sister anymore without running the risk of hurting her, and it's slowly getting stronger with every passing day. Part of me can't help but worry that I might accidentally hurt my parents with these powers if I even so much as try to hug them."
Hearing that made Mickey realize why she was so hesitant to touch him earlier and why she was more worried about hurting him than she should have been about herself, and he could not help but feel a great sympathy for Elsa. Still, he had noticed that her powers did not seem to work on him, and upon remembering both that and how he still needed a place to hide, he quickly got an idea. "Hey, do you mind if I stay here for a while," Mickey asked. "I need a place to hide away from everyone, and you look like you could use a friend while you're dealing with this, so this would be like a solution to both our problems."
Elsa instantly perked up when she heard that. She had already figured that Mickey was going to leave soon, but she figured that he would want to leave a lot sooner after he learned about her curse. It never occurred to her that he would actually want to stay and keep her company. "Are…Are you sure," Elsa asked.
"Yep. No one deserves to be alone. At least, not entirely," Mickey nodded. "Besides, you saw for yourself that your powers can't affect me, so at least you'll have one friend that you don't need to worry about getting hurt."
The mouse king had a point, Elsa could admit to that, but she still had to be absolutely sure of this. "Are you really sure you don't mind the fact that I have ice powers that I can't control?"
"Not if you don't mind me being a big talking mouse with a Keyblade," Mickey replied with a chuckle. Elsa had to laugh a little in response before she finally nodded in acceptance, silently saying that Mickey could stay here if he wanted, and thanking him for doing so at the same time. "Hot dog!"
That earned Mickey another small laugh from Elsa, and she then quickly sat up on her bed again, getting as close to Mickey as she could before asking, "So…could you tell me a little about your world? Or any of the other worlds you've been to?"
Mickey paused to think about that for a minute. Sure, it was against the rules to tell people about other worlds, but he had already broken that rule by admitting to Elsa he was from a different world, so it was too late to change that now. Besides, she looked so happy and excited to hear about such things, and with that twinkle in her eye that just begged him to share something, Mickey found he could not refuse. "Well, I guess I could tell you a few things, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else, okay," Mickey cautioned.
Elsa happily nodded in reply, "Don't worry. I won't. Besides, it would be nice to hear a few new stories about other worlds besides this one legend I've heard since I was really little."
With that said, Mickey immediately smiled a little more, and then asked, "Say Elsa, about what you were saying earlier in regards to my outfit…Do you really think it could work better with a bit more red and white in it?"
After that, the two spent a good deal of time talking over the kinds of changes Mickey could make to his current attire, and it was not until they finally finished that Mickey began one of the many tales of his adventures on his own world, thinking that would be a good place to start and that would help keep him from remembering how he felt about failing his friends, Ven, Aqua, and Terra for a little while longer. As he spoke, keeping as quiet as he could while still making the story seem very animated, he found that the laughter he drew from Elsa, no matter how quiet she tried to keep it, was something he had missed for some time now, and he hoped that it could last for a long time to come. He never realized that this moment of peace was going to end far too soon.
AN: Well that's a wrap for this chapter.
Xion: [slamming Xaldin with hammer hat in AN's place, and laughing as she does so] Okay, I'll admit it, this kind of thing is pretty funny.
AN: SHE ADMITS IT! SHE ADMITS THAT THIS STUFF IS FUNNY! [hits control and chorus singing hallelujah starts singing]
Xion: Okay, okay, we get it already. So, the Birth By Sleep trio is in Sora and Kairi's time and are about to storm the Castle That Never Was in order to get back along with Roxas and the Avengers huh?
AN: Yep. In all honesty, I wasn't originally planning to have the Avengers in this story, or any MARVEL characters for that matter, beyond some funny gags in the authors notes, but after seeing the Ant-Man movie, I just couldn't resist the temptation to throw them in. You'll see the line-up for the Avengers team in this story next chapter, and also, Captain America's uniform is basically a mix between his Age of Ultron suit and the one we all know best.
Xion: You do realize that having Roxas and those guys go there means that they're likely to run into me, Riku, Vanitas, and probably a lot of other guys, right?
AN: Oh believe me, I'm planning on that. I know a little while back I said I wasn't going to give Roxas any action scenes in this story, but the more I thought on it, the more I felt that I had to give the guy something, especially if this was going to happen, so yeah, you and Riku are going to get some action as well, because let's face it, there wouldn't be too much of a point to putting all you guys in this story and just give you small role.
Xion: And then there's that last thing at the end.
AN: Right, the thing with Mickey and Elsa. Yes, Mickey's past self is in the world of Frozen, and you can bet that Sora and Kairi are going to encounter Ana, Kristoff, and all those other guys too when they get there. A while back one of my followers had suggested I do a little something with the world of Frozen that involved Sora and Kairi, and after thinking about it for a while, I realized that Arendelle was actually just the world I needed as the place where past Mickey could be hiding away. Now we won't be seeing any of that for a little while, but in the meantime, here's what we will be seeing. Onto the Preview!...
Roxas acts as a guide for the team traveling to The World That Never Was, and through said world as well, as he and his fellow Keybearers discover a little more about their current allies, who are actually a team of superheroes known on their world as the Avengers. Upon arriving at the world that Roxas once had to call home, the four Keybearers are able to witness just how mighty a force that the team of heroes really is before they storm the castle where Xehanort and his forces make their base. What sort of encounters will the four heroes face in Xehanort's fortress, and just who will be waiting for them inside? Find out the answers and the dangers that will come about, next time.
Xion: Well, that sounds pretty exciting.
AN: I know right? Say, you are keeping an eye on Xaldin to make sure he doesn't get slammed out the window or something, right?
Xion: Uuuuuh...maybe? [looks just in time to see Xaldin get hit by the hammer again and through the window, just as the bubblegum snaps loose] Okay, maybe not. That's not a bad thing right?
AN: Nah, he wasn't really important for this story anyway. I just wanted to beat him up a little cause I had such a hard time beating him in Kingdom Hearts II.
Xion: Oh, okay.
AN: Anyways...
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!
*IMPORTANT EDIT 2/18/2019* Parts of this chapter have been updated recently in order to properly adjust to changes in later chapters of this story. This is partly due to events that were unveiled in Kingdom Hearts 3, and I'm sure if you've read the original version, you know which parts I'm talking about. As such, we'll be going over the new changes that were mentioned here.
For starters, when Mickey arrived in Arendelle, he did not end up at Elsa's ice palace, but instead tumbled into little Elsa's bedroom by accident. This is in fact after the event where she accidentally struck Anna's head, hence the reason why she's not sharing a room with Anna anymore. On with that said, you can expect to at least see Little Anna later on in the story, along with seeing Elsa and Anna's parents again.
Speaking of which, in case you are not familiar with Disney history, I did in fact work in a small reference to it at the end in the new modified version of the final scene. Originally, Walt Disney was in fact going to call Mickey "Mortimer Mouse", but after hearing the name, his wife suggested the name Mickey as a better alternative, saying that she did not like the sound of Mortimer. And thus, an icon was born and lives on proudly to this day, filling hearts with joy and reminding us that dreams can come true. Ahem, anyways, there was also another little reference to something you'll hear about again later in the story, which was not there before, but if you've read all of the original version, I'm sure you can already guess what that was. If you haven't, then you'll find out soon enough.
Hope you enjoyed this new version of the chapter, or at least, the new version of the final scenes, and...
Once again, please read and review, and see ya real soon!