Cinderella can recall with most clarity the night she went to the ball.
A night that held the most dreamlike quality, she still finds it hard to believe it was real!
What started as finding a tiny boy in a mousetrap, being escorted by another strange fellow and rescued by yet another mysterious woman. Each with a strange weapon resembling the boy in the middle of the dimly lit room under the soft glow of the table.
She remembers dancing the night away as if in a daze, she remembers the night her world fell apart similarly.
A dream?
A nightmare?
When her world fell away mere days after that night, she next finds herself in a strange coffin in a hall she's never seen before! The other girls were also in the process of being woken up.
One such girl was incased in crystal-like thorns that vanished in green flames!
Then she quickly looked down to see the last embers of the very same green fire fading away into the room.
She pulled a hand to her mouth.
Was all that a dream? A nightmare? How long was she here?! How long was she… asleep?!
She stumbled out of her strange holding space to the other disoriented girls.
Then, to her horror, there were other holding chambers.
The call of a raven startled them as it flew down to perch on the staff of a woman in black on the stairs leading to the rest of the room.
A portal opened behind them.
The woman in black held a glare that told them to enter it.
In fear, they went inside to a darkly lit room on the other side.
~/~
With Sora standing on the table so everyone can see him, he laid out an outline that they should teach the Princesses. Kairi and Riku being the only others besides Sora with a Keyblade. He took charge and kept the group focused and on the same page.
Hades watched from behind Riku. As a god and Lord of the Dead he knows.
Sora truly did die in the future.
Sora is an older soul in a childs' body. The soul of a veteran. Only the Heroes of Olympus could compare to the trauma he probably went through.
Just what did Xehanort put this guy through to make him go along with this crazy plan?!
Off to the side, Oogie Boogie was uncharacteristically quiet. As someone from a town that celebrated fear, even he was concerned.
His instincts were screaming danger from the kid. This bouncing smiling kid was dangerous in a way he can't describe. He's technically only a few years from now, but Oogie is scared of him. And he doesn't even have the whole picture!
He's a gambling man but…
Oogie has the feeling that if challenged, he would lose to this child(?).
He's never lost a bet.
But he would lose to Sora if he tried. And that terrifies him.
Captain Hook circled the girls soon to be in his charge. And he could easily see these girls kidnapped multiple times. No wonder that bilgerat asked them to train these pitiful wenches!
Let's see…
Four princesses (Snow White, Ariel, Aurora and Jasmine. Oh, what a price on their head!), an educated bookworm ( Belle..? He thinks? Ugh!), a small child (Alice's curiosity would get her killed someday), the whelps' best friend with a blade of her own (he made a note to stay clear of Kairi due to how protective both Keyblade wielding brats were of her), a maid (Cinderella huh? Hmm…) and one of the princesses, a former siren among the actual royals (Ariel! He shivered, the tales of them sending fear down his old spine!).
With actual combat training, that leaves Kairi and Ariel (*shivers*). The maid has muscle from her servitude, Alice has the energy to burn from her age with Jasmine and Belle having the attitude and tutelage. Aurora and Snow white look like they' be extra work to whip into shape...
What exactly did he agree to…?
Maleficent stayed near the outskirts of the group watching Sora giving them instructions on how to proceed.
Here, in the Castle Chapel. The table is the only light in the room not from the green tint of the torches, he glows gently.
She was a fool.
She followed the wrong man.
The witch became a pawn.
She agreed to rule and left with an empty castle. And from what he declared in Agrabah, she went from empty castle to empty castle.
Empty.
Looking at the group before her, she couldn't remember the last time she was in a crowd so large. Willingly at that.
Hesitantly, she stalked forward until she stood amongst the girls. Somehow next to Aurora.
Sora looked up at her, gaze unreadable.
Then, he smiled, seemingly drawn to some conclusion or other.
Why?
Why smile at her?
~/~
Training.
What Sora wanted to prioritize:
Self Defense
Magic
Thinking outside the Box/Unpredictability
Navigation (Between Worlds)
Anything else was as it came.
Sealing Keyholes can wait for now. He and Riku needed to find the lost trio as soon as possible. They even warned everyone he may or may not vanish for a year like he did last time after he explained about Roxas and Namine.
Seeing as how Kairi isn't sharing his Heart right now, they aren't sure what's going to happen now, actually.
Yay! Unpredictability!
Namine played a huge role in a lot of things. Let alone Roxas with the Organization and Axel/Lea!
But he still warned them all the same.
Nodding along they got to work!
Maleficent showed them their new rooms (Belle marveled at the books inside and Sora -totally on purpose- accidentally let slip about a library).
Kairi wished them good luck.
She then handed Sora her good luck charm for them to share.
"It's my lucky charm! Be sure to bring it back to me!" She declared, hands on her hips.
Sora just stared at it while tears fell down and his hand holding it started to shake.
It didn't take much to put two and two together and Riku and Kairi hugged him until he calmed down.
And then, like a lightbulb went off in his head, he stepped back and whipped out his Keyblade and switched out the keychain for Kairi's.
He showed them Oathkeeper.
She stared in awe of the Keyblade, not realizing her charm counted as a Keychain.
And then ideas started to form from that.
He raised a brow.
She grinned with a finger to her lips.
Riku rolled his eyes fondly, all but dragging Sora behind as they waved goodbye. Donald and Goofy trailing behind them.
Almost everyone waved goodbye at their departure.
~/~
As Kairi made her way to the hallway containing all their rooms.
Taking a breath, she made her way to the last open door and peeked inside. Dimly lit with the only light from the lamp on a desk. Upon entering, there were green tiles, Faded blue paint on the walls and a massive bookshelf in the left corner next to the door. Across from her is a bed on the right and a desk to the left.
Voices from the next room made her curious. Walking out she knocked on the door and was met with instant silence.
Eventually, Jasmine opened the door slightly to reveal a room identical to hers. Heaving a sigh in relief at the sight of Kairi, she relaxed and opened the door fully to see the rest of the girls inside.
Kairi mentally sagged. This was going to be a long night, wasn't it?
Bracing herself to face these girls to answer whatever questions they had, she walked inside and Jasmine shut the door behind her.
~/~
The next morning, Kairi woke up to the sound of presumably Maleficent's crow flying up and down the hallway crowing as if an alarm clock.
Groaning, she pulled the blankets over her head before sighing and getting up.
The others had a lot of questions and needed much reassurance.
Thankfully, she had Jasmine, Alice and Ariels' vote of confidence and was more or less voted as the de facto leader of the group.
Great.
In a way, it made sense, she supposes. As the best friend of Sora and Riku, as well as the one with the most answers (due to Sora's repeated explanations) as well as the most (actual) combat experience (let alone with an actual Keyblade). It made sense.
She just really didn't want to be in charge. She really is just as in the dark as they are. She's also the one that's going to be the most targeted down the road for a variety of reasons!
Sighing deeply, she got ready for their first day. She hopes Sora knows what he's doing.
After getting more presentable (without a bathroom, hairbrush, toothbrush, etc. She really needs to ask about that) Kairi opened the door to see the girls come out in different clothes with Hades leaning against the hallway entry with his arms crossed.
"Nice ladies! I see you found your new clothes. For as most of you were aware, evening gowns are not suitable for what we plan to do here." He grinned with his usual enthusiasm. Hades pointed to the floor and she spotted the small chest next to her door still shut.
Inside were the basic necessities she was lamenting the loss of as well as spare clothes.
How thoughtful. She was pleasantly shocked.
"I had taken the liberty of asking around about your respective homes from where you were taken for your supplies. For those whose world was already lost I borrowed from the other girls as well as gathering the needed clothes from Traverse Town due to their clothing being more combat practical for women.
Kairi looked at the girls more closely.
Belle wore a floral blue t-shirt as well as capris that looked like Olettes with matching sneakers and socks.
Alice wore a blue t-shirt and shorts as well as sneakers (they all wore sneakers).
Kairi pouted a bit at Ariel's clothing change. A purple vneck tshirt over green shorts.
Aurora had a strange tye-dyed t-shirt in variations of blue, red and green over black capris like Belle.
Snow White also had a dark blue t-shirt and a yellow skort like Kairi.
Cinderella wore a brown t-shirt and matching capris.
And Jasmine wore a green v-neck t-shirt and capris.
All Kairi could do was nod. He was right, far more practical than what they had before. They also ditched their tiaras and jewelry in their rooms (probably in the chests) and did their best to put their hair up in simple ponytails, etc.
Nodding to Hades, he moved off the wall and turned, lazily gesturing to them to follow. And giving a mini tour of the mostly unused living quarters. Maleficent had some of her goons sent in to keep the place tidy as well as to cook for them (well, the more competent ones anyway).
As the girls trailed behind in the dark mist that surrounds him, they got a real look at the place.
Kairi especially.
This is her actual homeworld after all. Twisted as it is, she can't help but marvel at the architecture, and the stained glass.
Once again, her breath was taken away with the wind as they went outside to get back to the chapel.
The others gasped in awe of the view as well. This castle was huge!
A thought struck her then.
Hollow Bastion.
Empty Castle.
Her euphoria dimmed.
Empty. Castle.
Right, Maleficent took over when she was a child. And they were the only residents.
She plastered on a fake smile, determined to join Belle in her quest for a library.
There has to be something from back then left!
Gripping her hands into fists, she plastered on a fake smile.
Determined to know all she can!
Hades watched her unnoticed before playfully chiding them for being distracted in his Grand Tour of this magnificent castle!
Oooh Boy. Maleficent better watch her back! Things just got interesting!