The Sapphire Sorceress
Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.
Act 60: Dance to the Death
"There's no need to be so formal. Just call me Minnie."
Olympus Coliseum: The Lobby ( Kairi's POV )
"Uhhh...ummm...Huh?"
My body slowly was beginning to move around slowly after that painful experience I had gone through a couple of seconds earlier. At least what I assumed as a couple of seconds ago when it could have been a longer period of time I was unconscious after that vicious attack. Even by this point, I was still not strong enough to fight against a member of that organization of nobodies and even the lesser ones gave me trouble. Why am I still so far away from being a real hero?! Did I need even more training that I had originally believed?
The bright atmosphere certainly didn't look like the underworld, so I had to be in Olympus Coliseum then!
"Kairi! Okay, now just breath real slowly. You were lucky that you didn't drown while you were resting..." Looking near me was Meg, her face looked pained when she told me that making me gasp in horror. She just told me that...I could have died back there?! My body began to process that if I was here that meant I was saved before such a horrible outcome could have happened to me.
"I only heard the details from Sora, but it sounds like you got into a fight with someone who almost made your lungs drown completely in water. You were fortunate that Sora managed to find you in time, and the fact you are in the land of gods..." Seeing Phil and Herc look at me with concern made me realize how bad it could have been for Sora and the world if Demyx had succeeded in finishing me off. Once again, the hero of the day was Sora who needed to rescue me out of a horrible situation.
"Where is he right now?"
"Letting out his aggression on a few training dummies. After dealing with that Hydra by getting on his back I certainly don't want to mess with that junior hero and his pals at this moment." He must have felt bad that I gave him this kind of trouble, and those poor training dummies had to take the brunt of his rage and sadness most likely. Slowly getting off this made-up bed for me I gave my thanks to everyone here for providing support while I was unconscious, which would have to include Sora for rescuing me.
"No thanks are needed, Kairi. That is what heroes do for a living!"
"Yeah I guess that is true, but I certainly didn't act like one in the underworld. All of this was because I wanted to prove that I was a hero, and instead, I acted selfishly in order to please my ego..." Hercules shook his head at my guilt, his reaction shocked me considering that it was partly my fault all of this happened.
"You shouldn't beat yourself up for that. Believe me when I tell you that I had some issues before I become the hero of this coliseum."
"Very true. I know for certain Wonderboy wasn't always getting the cheers of the crowd when he was just starting out as a junior hero himself." I honestly found it hard to believe that someone like Herc was in the same place that I was in now.
"Believe me when I tell you the champ here was kind of a chump several years ago."
"I'll tell ya this boy fell over and embarrassed himself quite a few times."
"Okay Phil, the message is clear to her."
"There was this one time he managed to fall over on his face and knock down all sorts of different pots set up around the place."
"I'm sure Kairi has gotten the picture by now..."
"Meg also has all sorts of stories about when he's tried trying to get her to speak with him or even notice him-"
"I think we need to change the subject, Phil!"
I couldn't help giggling as the little goat man walked off as Herc suggested he fix some of the training areas for Sora. Even Meg was grinning at the red cheeks on the face of the "Mighty" Hercules. While my body still felt kinda sluggish I could at least still laugh at the idea of such a warrior starting off in my shoes being new to all of this kind of stuff in helping save others. Struggling to improve each and every day to overcome any failures that might happen along the way.
"I think you and Sora make quite a team after hearing what you did with him in the underworld. Not to mention fighting one of those weird nobodies on your own is no small feat, and this is coming from the son of Zeus himself."
"Yeah everyone had to start from scratch like Wonderboy said himself." I never considered it in that way before since everyone had to become stronger over years of practice in order to improve.
"Phil might not believe you're a hero, but standing up to Cerberus is something that shows your courage in the face of danger. It might not mean much to you," Hercules walked over to the wall to bring out a silver trophy that he wanted me to hold up in the air. "You are a hero in the making just like Sora and me, Kairi!"
Despite my lack of physical strength in my arms, I grinned at those words while holding up the trophy with Herc's help. Holding up the item with my left hand; while waving at Meg with my right hand I knew that things would only go up for me from this point. However, even in this moment of happiness, I knew that I must confront my feelings and weaknesses involving my friend in the future.
Disney Castle: Courtyard
Sora was happy to see that I was doing much better now with some rest, the four of us made our way back into the voyage of space for our next adventure in Goofy and Donald's home world. Having the chance to find out more about these two being the Royal Aids of their king made me excited to be here along with Sora. We would finally get to learn more about this world where they came from, for even the chance of meeting a princess from this kingdom. Only, the both of them didn't seem happy about being back in their home.
"Ya know, somethin' just don't feel quite right..."
Looking around this hanger area I noticed our ship crew run down to tell us about this Queen Minnie who seemed to be in trouble, and it sounded like the hunch Goofy had was right after all. Rushing out of this garage I knew that it would be wise to stay by Sora's side instead of running off into whatever is attacking this castle like in the underworld. Despite the possible danger we were in I had to take a few seconds to take in the surroundings that I was now seeing with my eyes.
'Whoever designed this garden certainly knows how to make these brushes look amazing. Of course, the only flaws I had were the black creatures with yellow eyes jumping on these amazing sculptures.'
I was grateful these were the weakest brand of heartless we could have to deal with, so I could ease myself back into fighting without too much trouble. Even so, my hands were slowly shaking despite being able to destroy a couple of these guys on my own like there was some amount of fear in my heart about fighting again.
'No! I can't let this sensation defeat me...' Shaking my head I charged at the heartless trying to attack us, but I noticed that some of these heartless had a ticking sound to them. Not to mention they were shaped like eggs with little legs running at us like they wanted to be near us...
"Sora! Look out!" I had to do something, with a push I got my friend out of the way before the heartless suddenly began to blow themselves up. They guys were trying to take us down with them as suicidal bombers.
"Thanks for the warning, Kairi." Nodding, I knew that we needed to be careful when dealing with those kinds of heartless as would Goofy and Donald. With a couple of fire attacks, they were dispatched just as easily as the shadow heartless. After looking around for a sign of life we headed right into the castle proper looking at how bright it was compared to Beast's own castle. The contrast with both worlds was rather jarring honestly, but I figured that it was due to the circumstances behind the cursed prince and his subjects.
"More confounded heartless!" They must be after someone or something if they were attacking this aggressively, so we had to save or stop whatever they were up to ourselves. Cutting down more of these guys I saw Sora was moving quicker than usual during these fights, his reactions were much faster, and he seemed more focused on defeating these guys in a short fashion. I knew he must have wanted to keep me safe from danger, was it because of me nearly being killed by that nobody?
'He must still be feeling guilty as am I...' With the last of the heartless gone for now we could continue our investigation without any problems. That is when we got to see her, the apparent queen of this land in the flesh: Minnie. Donald and Goofy quickly ran up in front of us to provide a salute to this person.
"Your majesty! Queen Minnie! We're back!"
"You're here." Her dress and attitude certainly did fit the part of a queen of royalty.
"Your Royal Highness, did ya happen to summon us?" Wait, so if she called for us to come here, then that must mean the king is here too...right? Sora had the same idea when he pushed past Donald and Goofy to ask Minnie.
"Excuse him. This is our friend, Sora. Also, the girl behind us is called Kairi."
"Oh, greetings to the both of you then. The King told me all about you in his letters. He said that you were a brave young man."
"Umm, your highness? Was there anything in those letters about me?" She shook her head to confirm the answer was no...
"I'm sorry, but all that was said is that you've been trying to become like your friend here by improving your skills with the keyblade." It sounds like he isn't up to date about my condition and maybe even the fact Sora has awoken from his sleep. When asked about the king being here she once more didn't have the answer we wanted to hear.
"Your Majesty, what are heartless doing in your castle?"
"Oh, my...so those are the heartless." She didn't know about those creatures until now? I found that hard to believe about her being in the dark about something like this. Still, she was in trouble and that meant we had to protect her and this kingdom from danger.
"Don't worry, your umm highness. We'll take care of it!"
"I know that I can rely on you, Sora. You and your friends have already saved our world once already. Now, there is something I'd like all of you to see. Would you please escort me to the audience chamber?"
Despite putting in my best effort to give a salute I must have looked rather clumsy next to Donald and Goofy's poses. Looking at the queen I knew that protecting her would not be easy with the heartless still running around outside, but we were used to dealing with difficult situations by this point. Not to mention Donald and Goofy's world was in danger, so I had to return the favor to them after they've been more than willing to help me and Sora out in dealing with the problems in other worlds. Knocking back some of the heartless shadows I nodded at Sora who shared the same determination in his eyes.
'Things will go right today!' Cutting down the rest of this small fry we were able to escort the queen to a sparkling door, the area seemed to be dripping with holy magic. It seemed like this door was being protected against the heartless for some reason Minnie likely knew; the darkness trying to attack this world that is filled with light can't be for a good reason...
"Now then...shall we?" Letting the queen enter first I was taken back with the huge room that we came into with a long carpet that extends over to a huge wall decorated with a few figures on it. Whatever was being kept safe here must have been significant...
"Looks like these guys were waiting for us..." This huge wave of pillars that came out from above meant that keeping Minnie safe would be difficult.
"I guess it is time to bust out my drive." I figured it would be his usual red outfit that came with two keyblades, so I decided to protect Minnie by sticking close by her side to shield her from the heartless. My focus was put towards royalty, and I didn't have enough time to realize that something felt wrong with Sora. It was like his body had been drenched in a foul order like...the heartless!
"My word! One of those creatures looks just like your friend..." Just like Sora? The human-looking Heartless was attacking the other ones swiftly, strongly, and without an ounce of mercy. Just looking at Sora act like this caused my spine to shiver in fear, was this the power that Sora has gained? No! This was all wrong. He couldn't have become a heartless again there is just no way...
"Kairi!" I almost forgot about poor Minnie and these heartless trying to attack her. Right now she was the one I had to worry about, so I fired off several magical attacks while keeping myself near her body to ensure no harm comes her way. I was fortunate that she wasn't exactly as defenseless as I had originally believed, her magic was powerful enough to force back the enemy to a distance. That must be how she was capable of sealing off this room from the invading heartless with a barrier of pure light.
Putting in my part of the effort I ran towards a heartless who tried slamming into the queen, the left hand stabbing the small head of this heartless to destroy it while releasing the captive heart inside. We were almost towards the end of the room, but then several of these guys began to swarm up likely trying to stop us before it was too late and Minnie's barrier couldn't stop them completely. I decided to risk myself in order to keep the queen safe from harm, using my body as a shield to keep her protected, that is the duty of a keybearer after all...
"Kairi! You mustn't keep me safe like this! Your heart could be stolen once more or something worse might happen..."
"That's not gonna happen, your highness!" Despite this situation my mouth grew into a confident smile, the enemy was rabid however they would not succeed no matter what happens next. Holding up my weapon I tried defending against this onslaught despite not being able to keep this much heartless at bay for long. Feeling a pain in my arm when it got attacked by the heartless I knew that it wasn't the best plan to possibly re-injure myself...
"Ahh!" No! How could I let go of my weapon at a time like this? I had to keep Minnie safe no matter what...
"Sora?!" Looking at the black-clad Sora charge at the other heartless I wondered why he is trying to protect us now. He was bashing these guys over and over again without any sign of stopping, and while I should be happy that he's helping out I feared what the consequences of this new power will be once he is finished with them. Would he turn back to normal and simply brush off what I'm seeing or...would the worse case scenario running in my head come true about all of this.
'Do I really have to fight Sora?' To free him from whatever happened to him, such an outcome was something I didn't want to if it could be avoided. With the last of the heartless gone, I moved closer to Sora, his body refused to move an inch while I got closer. Holding out my keyblade I decided to ignore Minnie's plea for me to get away from him since he must be in some kind of pain as he began to shiver while looking at me.
"S-sora it is your friend, Kairi. Listen to my voice, and everything will be okay..." Holding out my left hand while placing my keyblade away in my right hand just in case I extended the peace offering to my friend. Time slowed down to a crawl, I knew this was a rather dangerous gamble, and if my hunch was wrong then fighting Sora would be something that I must do to save him. Giving out a friendly smile I accepted his hand without any sign of resistance in his eyes or body, the dark aura covering his body slowly faded away from him.
'Oh, thank goodness. At least, for now, Sora is able to get out of whatever mode this is supposed to be like...' Watching his yellow eyes turn back to normal I knew that my gamble had paid off. He...actually winked at me like there wasn't a shadow version of himself taking down many of the heartless in the room.
"Hey, Kairi! Why are you looking like you're about to cry at me?"
"Well, you gave us quite a scare when you turned into one of those heartless. I'd thought that you lost your heart again like in Hollow Bastion." He must have never been in this form considering how he looked very confused about what just happened; he looked sad about this while I felt overjoyed that he was okay despite being in that form. There was no dance to the death...
Looking over at Queen Minnie I knew we would have to talk about what took place another time as she revealed a secret passage underneath a throne.
"Our castle has always been safe from worlds that are evil...thanks to the Cornerstone of Light which we keep down here."
"The Cornerstone...of Light?" I never heard of something like that as well. Walking down the steps we finally got to see what she had been speaking about, the huge sphere with a huge orb on top appeared to be this cornerstone.
"This is the castle's cherished Cornerstone. But look. The thorns...They must be the work of someone evil." I began to notice these strange thorns began to move around us in a hostile manner. Something was wrong here, the chances of this being anything but the work of evil was very slim.
"I wonder what this could mean..." Then, I felt a presence enter the room that belonged to a force of darkness. Unlike the nobodies, this figure came before us in a flurry of green flames to reveal a woman with black horns sticking out of her head. Wait a second Sora and others told me about a woman like this...
"Maleficent!"
"No way!"
She...didn't look to actually be here in person, her figure looked invisible like a ghost however she was able to look and likely talk with us.
"Well, well, well. What have we here...? If it isn't the wretched keyblade holder and his pitiful lackeys!"
"What!? Now you're gonna deal with me!"
"Stop Donald! You likely can't hurt her if she is appearing in front of us like this..." She grew a grin on her face when I stopped Donald from heading after her.
"Clever girl. To think a mere Princess of Heart could end up fighting on the front lines with this hero of light. Regardless, the reunion of all parties involved here will come in good time. I promise you'll be able to partake of my vengeance. But you must be patient."
"Just what are you doing here, Maleficent?"
"Ah, Queen Minnie. Radiant, as always." Why don't you stop with the fake manners and get on with answering our question? What is your purpose in coming here?
"I'm here on a property venture. I want this castle for my own." Property venture? There are many other castles I've seen during my journeys, and she could easily take up residence in Hollow Bastion even if there are people trying to rebuild that world. "However, its' a bit too "bright" for what I have in mind. I suppose I'll just have to fill every room with my personal touch of darkness."
Great! She is up to her old tricks of ruining people's lives for her own amusement.
"Why can't you just stop already, Maleficent! We already have enough on our plate like dealing with those nobodies. The last thing we need to be concerned with is you and Aqua.!"
"Ohh, how frightening. Hold on..did you mention, Aqua?" Did she know about her? Looking at her face it seemed like they might have met in the past but I didn't know why that could be the case. She brushed that comment aside, her cruel grin was back on her face while she continued with her big speech.
"If you think I'm going to let you feel more threatened by a bunch of hollow dusks compared to the Mistress of All Evil, then you will need to remember how terrifying I can truly be! As for your request...Since you asked nicely...Very well. I'll stop...Just as soon as this castle belongs to me!"
"What a hag."
"Nothing like this has ever happened before. I looked through all the records in the library, but I couldn't find a single clue."
"Ohhhh! We should go ask somebody who knows losta stuff that ain't in any book!"
"Merlin the Wizard!" That is a great idea. He should know better than anyone what we can do to protect this castle from Maleficent. We should head back to Hollow Bastion quickly to find him.
"Kairi! Do you think you can stick around here with Minnie?"
"M-me?!" I could be of help during the search for this wizard, so why is Sora saying I need to stay here.
"Chances are that witch might try something again. You need to stick around in case more of the heartless could decide to attack the castle..." As I figured would be the answer. Honestly, the reasoning makes a lot of sense to stick around for security, but I wish that it wasn't the case considering I would be away from Sora.
"If anything happens you have to look out for this place and her majesty. I'm no we're counting on you, Kairi."
"I see...I will not let you down then!" Despite feeling some amount of disappointment I knew these guys were depending on me to keep her safe along with this castle. Such faith in me wasn't something I could let down no matter how I felt, so I accepted the role of being Minene's bodyguard until they return. Watching them left the room I knew there had to be some way to pass time, and I figured conversation would be the best answer to that.
"So, how did you become queen of this place exactly? I mean from what Donald and Goofy told me you must have known the king for quite a long time." Donald and Goofy went on for a long time about how they used to live in a different period of time with someone who kept messing up stuff, and the world they lived in was completely different from this castle.
"Oh, yes the lot of us enjoyed our time here living in a peaceful era. Sadly I knew that the king would be forced into protecting the worlds from the darkness along with Donald and Goofy. It is funny that you were one of the seven princesses, but you've managed to unlock the power to defend yourself and fight alongside your friend." Yeah, the fact I've been able to come this far is rather surprising. There was much more room for improvement, and that is why I must press onward as a heroine of the light.
"This power is only good if I can't keep those things I wish to protect safe from harm, your highness."
"Oh, please Minnie is just as fine to call me."
"How nice. Getting to have the girl-to-girl talk with the queen here. Perhaps you'll both have some tea later as well." A voice interrupted the good mood I was feeling, and when I looked in front of us there was...one of those black cloaks!
"Organization XIII!" Why were they here now as well?! Holding myself in front of the queen I prepared for a fight for my life considering the last time I encountered one of these guys. This time I was prepared for the worst to come my way.
"Woah! Woah hold on a second, girl," He held up his hands like he wasn't here to cause trouble. "You gotta remember someone like me unlike Sora who's memories have only just now come back into his head." Moving up that hood...I did remember details about this guy from those green marks under his eyes, the red spiky hair, and his cocky attitude.
"You know, Axel? The one who hung out with Roxas and Xion most of the time if Riku hasn't told you already." Riku? Not trusting him for a second I held up my keyblade and stood in front of the confused queen who likely hasn't even heard about nobodies either judging by her reaction.
"Look, the reason I'm here is not to mess with you but to ask for your help with something..." What? Axel wanted me to help him despite the fact he's caused my precious friends nothing but trouble back in Castle Oblivion. He must be crazy to think I would be able to trust him; nobodies might not even have the understanding of what crazy even means...
"You might not think I'm being honest about that, but you have to understand that we're running out of time." More cryptic words that don't exactly make me feel better, huh? Glaring at the nobody I said that he needs to get to the point rather than beat around the bush. If I must listen to him, I could at least fully understand Axel's intention.
"You need to find her, the nobody who is similar to you and Sora. She has gone through a change in her attitude and focus. She's been seeking out heartless to eliminate like you are, and if you don't beat her then..." Wait a minute. If he speaking about Aqua? That can't be possible if she doesn't have a keyblade, and only Xion and Roxas were capable of using one...
"Your friends, Xion and Roxas. They could use a keyblade however they are both gone now meaning your group is out of keyblade wielders. That being said, I'm sorry about what happened to your friends, Axel..." Despite being the enemy he did seem to care about their well-being and desired to keep them safe.
"Yeah...thanks, I guess," He rubbed the back of his head while giving off a smile that didn't seem to be artificial. "Anyways the truth is we do still have a keyblade wielder that we're using..."
"What?!" How could that even be possible unless...
"Great. Here I thought I could stay as a "dead man" before they could find me." Nobodies or rather lesser ones that likely were his minions. Their bodies look rather small in size, but if they were anything like the other ones it would be foolish to underestimate them. They began to chase after us; Axel's words for them to back off didn't seem to affect them leaving them as open to attack with their disobedience.
"What. Is. Your. Deal?!" Kicking back some of these guys I used my keyblade to cut through those who tried a direct attack, but I saw a couple of these guys that were gliding through the air. Queen Minnie would be in danger if she was here, but I couldn't ask her to go upstairs with the heartless around the castle.
"Don't worry about me, Kairi. Don't let this man near the Cornerstone of Light above all else." Sorry, your highness. There is no way you're getting hurt on my watch.
"Geez, and to think I wanted to avoid a confrontation with you, Kairi. Looks like we both have a job to do..." You're right about that Axel. My duty today will be stopping you from causing any more problems!
[ Firstly I'm sorry this took some time for an update to come out with this story. I've been kinda busy with other stories and irl stuff, but I will try doing more content this coming week for Kingdom Hearts. Second, how do you guys feel about the story as it is right now? Anything I can do to improve it or suggestions about where you think it should go next are certainly welcome. I want to be interactive with you readers since without you I wouldn't have the motivation to keep this going on. For that, I'm very grateful for this audience you've given to this story. ]