Wayward Wind tore through the last heartless in the current fight, destroying it effectively. Ventus stood straight and tilted his head back, trying to catch his breath. He ended up staring into the featureless, dark sky. "How long have we been here? I can't tell anymore…"
"It feels like it's been weeks," Lea agreed.
"Weeks here could be months or even years in the Realm of Light," Terra reminded them.
The thought did not cheer up Kairi. "Months where our students have no word of us, no Land of Departure to return to…" She held her fist up to her chest, feeling Ruby's light through their connection.
Riku noticed the action. "Can you still feel them?"
Kairi's face displayed her confusion. "I've never really had a connection with the others, but I can feel Ruby. Can you not feel your connections?"
Aqua seemed surprised as well. "The veil between the realms can be difficult for light to pierce. I've always known your connection to Ruby was strong, but if you can still feel her here it must be exceptional."
"You think so?" Kairi questioned. She had to admit she didn't know as much about the Realm of Darkness as a Master probably should. "It's faint, but I can feel Ruby. I think she may have even used me as a link since we've been here."
"So you can feel her, and she can feel you," Ventus compiled thoughtfully. "Maybe we can use this."
Lea scratched the back of his neck, "Whaddya mean?"
"Use the connection to pull yourself toward Ruby," Ventus explained, "like Sora did with all of us."
Riku's eyes widened. "You're talking about when he changed time. But that wasn't without consequences."
"Right, but Kairi wouldn't be breaking the laws of nature," Ventus argued. "She wouldn't be changing history, just using Ruby's heart to reach the world where Ruby is at in the present. That's perfectly in line with the rules."
Aqua brought her hand to her chin, taking a moment to consider things. "It… could work. Then we'd have one of us in the Realm of Light, working on this threat from the other side. It wouldn't change the situation for the rest of us, but it would be better than nothing."
Riku turned to Kairi. "You're the one who would be taking on the risk. It's up to you."
Tucked away in the corner of a massive castle was a small study. Between stacks of books and large paintings of his ancestors, a small king tried to run his kingdom. King Mickey Mouse had spent years traveling the worlds, keeping the peace and fighting the darkness as a Keyblade Master. Unfortunately, those were years spent not ruling over his land, and while his Queen proved a competent leader, there were some things only the monarch himself could manage.
He had long since caught up on his royal backlog, but there would always be more hearings to hear, more fires to put out. With the worlds in a time of relative peace, he found himself more and more acting on his responsibilities as a ruler over his responsibilities as a Keyblade Master. There would be months where he had no contact at all with his old friends at the Land of Departure. Though he did like to keep in touch, which is why he was calling now during a break in his paperwork.
Except no one was picking up.
The Gummiphone rang and rang, but ultimately no one he tried to contact had answered his calls. He vaguely recalled having to turn down an invitation to a Mark of Mastery exam somewhat recently, and briefly wondered why no one gave him an update on that after. The situation was stirring an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. The kind of feeling that, as both a regent and as a peacekeeping warrior, he had long ago learned to listen to.
He found himself in the garden mere moments later, where he met with his Queen, Minnie.
"Oh!" Minnie called out with a smile, taking her husband's hands into her own. "It's so nice to see you out from behind that desk."
"Heya, Minnie," Mickey smiled back.
The pair enjoyed a rare tender moment between themselves. Though Minnie was more perceptive than some gave her credit for. Despite Mickey's best attempts to hide his feelings, his Queen could always read him like an open book. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Mickey frowned as his eyes turned slightly away. "I haven't heard from the Land of Departure in a while. I tried callin' 'em, but no one picked up. It's probably nothin'…"
Minnie smile widened. She didn't like it when he left, but she loved his kind and heroic heart. She cupped his cheek to turn his gaze back onto her. "Go do what you have to. Just don't disappear again."
Mickey's hand came up to Minnie's on his cheek. "I'll keep in touch. I promise." The pair touched their noses together, sharing one last intimate moment. They parted slowly, until Mickey had no choice but to turn away if only to keep from tripping.
He stepped up to a large hedge castle that took up the exact center of the garden. The doors on the front of the decoration opened to reveal a secret tunnel that Mickey took down to the Gummiship hanger. As he reached the hanger, he was greeting by the castle's resident inventors and technicians, the mechanically inclined chipmunk brothers Chip and Dale.
"Your majesty!" Chip greeted, running toward him with his brother.
"What brings ya' down here?" Dale asked as they arrived in front of the King.
"Takin' off," Mickey answered. "The Land of Departure has gone silent. There might be trouble."
"Trouble?" Dale questioned in a worried tone.
"Like the old days!?" Chip followed up, sounding perhaps a little too excited.
"Let's hope not," Mickey did his best to temper both their moods. "Just get me flyin' and stay on the line. I'll fill you in as I go."
"Got it, your majesty!" The brothers saluted and dashed to their stations to prepare for launch.
The black cloaked figure curled up alone in an empty chamber. It was to them a cell, and a place they associated with darkness. Their fight replayed in their mind, over and over again. Seeing that golden fireball approach, feel it searing their face with more than just heat and flame. Lux Firaga. A fireball infused with pure light itself. And that hurt. It hurt, and they didn't know how to deal with that.
So they ran. They ran back to this place, a place they once feared. But that darkness was comfortable now that darkness itself was within them. And it was here and now that, not for the first time, they doubted themselves. As if on cue, their darkness began rising from their shoulders to whisper in their ears.
They were drawn into their dive. Bright yellow eyes opened in the void around the corrupted tower. They could hear groaning and growling, the sounds of the instinct of darkness to destroy light.
"I know… but I can't deal with it…"
More dark whispers followed.
"Isn't there someone else? Maybe that woman…"
A harsh growl brought their hands to their ears.
"I know! They're not strong enough… but maybe I can go after the other survivors first? They may have weaker lights…"
Low groaning.
"Yeah, I don't know where they are either…"
Whispers filled the void while the cloaked figure fell sideways, still curled in themselves. Torn as they ever were between the urges of the darkness and their own fear.
The Gummiship hung still in empty space. Empty space that happened to be the exact coordinates for where the Land of Departure should be. Mickey stared over the ship's controls, out the window, and toward the stars. There were very few things that could make a world vanish. In fact, there was only one thing Mickey could think of, and it did not bode well. He tried calling the contacts in his Gummiphone one last time, once again receiving nothing.
Suddenly he was getting called. He looked down excitedly at the ringing Gummiphone and was only slightly disappointed to see Chip and Dale's contact. He answered, "whatcha got for me?"
"After we got your message about the Land of Departure, we started searching the Gummiphone Network for any signs of distress," Chip explained, "and we got a hit!"
Dale took over the explanation, "an unfamiliar device has been sending out signals at regular intervals for the past several months."
"Unfamiliar?" Mickey questioned.
"It must be one of the ones the Masters handed out," Chip answered. "Either to the families of the students, or the students themselves."
"Well, what can we do with that?" Mickey asked.
"We can either trace the signal back to its origin," Dale began.
"Or we can extract the caller data and use it to call them directly," Chip finished.
Mickey thought over things for a moment. What he needed above all was information. They could still trace the signal if calling them didn't work. But if calling them does work, Mickey imagined it would be the faster route. "Can you send me the data?"