When Aqua opened her eyes in the new world, she found herself in some sort of prison, metal bars surrounding her on every side. At first, she thought this must be a dungeon seeing as a castle was all she could see on the overworld but now that she looked around the place…
She wrapped her… paws around the bars. "Huh?!"
She took a look at herself and quickly realized that she was now a little blue mouse. She looked around in shock. "This is…!"
Giant tables held giant books, big pillows that could swallow her whole now sat on a rather regal-looking sofa and a furry forest of carpet lay in front of her. "This must be a way to maintain the world order as Master Eraqus told us about. The magic to transform us is in our armor… I'll have to endure it, for the good of this world."
She glanced around for a way out before realizing the only way was to push open the trap door, something a little thing like her couldn't dream of doing. She sighed, crossing her arms. "Even if it'll lead to a world of problems!"
The palace clock's chimes managed to reach even Cinderella's home, making her startle up. "Oh, that clock! Old killjoy. I hear you! "C'mon, get up," you say, "time to start another day." Even he orders me around… Well, there's one thing, they can't order me to stop dreaming! And maybe someday... The dreams that I wish will come true…!"
The girl hummed happily as her animal friends helped her prepare for the day for she had shown them nothing but kindness by giving them a place to stay and even making them little clothes to wear.
Cinderella tied her hair back with the help of two little bluebirds. "No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing. The dream that you wish will come true…"
Suddenly, two little mice scampered up her vanity, chattering and squeaking away.
"Wait a moment! One at a time, please! Now, Jaq, what's all the fuss about?" Cinderella asked gently, tilting her head.
"New mouse in the house. Some brand-new. Never saw before. Visitor, visitor!" Jaq, the little mouse dressed in red cried.
"Oh, a visitor!" Cinderella smiled happily. She opened her drawer and picked out some little clothes happily. "Well, she'll need a dress and a bonnet, some shoes…!"
"Gotta get her out!" Jaq cried urgently while the second mouse added, "In a trap! In a trap!"
"Where? In a trap?! Well, why didn't you say so?!"
Aqua heard the pounding of giant feet and the door opened to reveal a pretty maiden who lifted the trap.
"Whoa!" Aqua tumbled to the back of the cage as the girl opened the little hatch.
"Don't be afraid," She smiled at her. She gently placed the trap down and the mice climbed on the bars to look at the visitor. "Jaq, you better explain things to her."
Jaq nodded and walked in, offering a hand to Aqua. "Now, now, now. Look, little lady. Take it easy. Nothing to worry about. We like you. Cinderella likes you, too. She's nice, very nice,"
Aqua glanced up to see Cinderella give a gentle and welcoming smile and looked around to see the other mice were just as inviting. Strangely enough, they were all wearing clothes, she felt rather naked with just her fur.
"My name's Jaq," Jaq told her.
"I'm Aqua. It's nice to meet you all." Aqua said to the group before Cinderella gently bent down to her.
"Here, let's try this on for size." She helped Aqua slip on a little blue dress and apron complete with tiny pockets. She tied a silver ribbon around her round ears. "There we are, you look lovely."
"Cinderella!" A chilling voice called, surprising them all.
"Oh well, time to get to my chores. I'll see you in a little while, Aqua." Cinderella nodded to her before hurrying away.
"A big house like this must have a lot of maintenance, does everyone pitch in to keep it clean? " Aqua asked Jaq. She'd only ever heard of household chores, she'd never had to do them since the castle magically kept itself clean.
"Aw, no. Stepmother and stepsisters don't do any cleaning! They make Cinderella work, work, work all day long!" Jaq muttered, crossing his arms in anger at the situation.
"She didn't seem to mind." She seemed a little annoyed but it lasted for only a second, even when she has to do everything herself. Aqua thought.
"No, not Cinderella. She works hard. She's got a dream, a big dream. The dream's gonna come true!"
A dream coming true… Aqua remembered her own dream to become a keyblade master, now much further away than it had been before. But it had to come true someday, right? She remembered the reason she'd lost the title and worry filled her again, thinking of the veiled lady's threat. "Have you seen any other new mice around here? I'm looking for my friend, Ven."
"No. Don't know Ven, sorry." Jaq replied with a sad shrug.
"Oh, that's alright.." Aqua sighed. She'd hoped he'd be here too but it seemed to wish wasn't enough in this world, at least, not for a mouse like her.
"Come on, follow me. You gotta see the rest of the house."
The two walked into a mouse hole and Aqua looked around at the dark place. "Do you all live here in this hole?"
"No, no, we live with Cinderella in the attic," Jaq explained. "Cinderella thought these mouse holes were bad home, she was right!"
"The attic, that doesn't sound very nice at all…." Aqua mumbled, feeling grateful for her comfy room in the Land of Departure. Cinderella was most likely around Terra and Aqua's age, she deserved a nice room to grow up in…
Jaq agreed wholeheartedly. "Cinderella made it as pretty and nice as she could but it's nothing like the stepsisters' rooms! They're spoiled rotten! It's all Lady Tremaine's fault, she's Cinderella's stepmother!"
"I see." Aqua nodded as they entered the attic.
As expected, the place was plain and bare, it was tidy and clean but that was all that looked nice about it. "Oh…"
"I know." Jaq nodded, climbing up the bedpost and hopping over to the windowsill.
Aqua joined him as quickly as she could, having to make a few attempts at the climb.
They gazed at the castle together.
"That's the palace, the king's palace," Jaq explained softly. "There's going to be a big ball there tonight, every girl in the land was invited."
"So Cinderella's going?" Aqua smiled hopefully.
Jaq gave a sad sigh. "Don't know…"
The door suddenly opened and Cinderella danced in, happily getting to work on a pink dress Aqua had only just noticed.
"You seem happy, Cinderella." Aqua smiled.
The girl nodded, turning to her. "Mmhm, I'm going to the royal ball tonight. I guess dreams really do come true!"
"Cinderella!"
"Cinderella!"
Cinderella's dreamy smile faded when she heard her stepsisters and gave a sigh. "My dress will have to wait…"
She hurried out after a quick goodbye, leaving Jaq and Aqua to themselves again.
"Stepmother said Cinderella can go only if she does all her chores in time and has a pretty dress to wear but she assigned Cinderella so many chores…" Jaq started.
"She won't be able to finish the dress in time." Aqua realized with dismay.
The other mice and birds gathered around in dismay as they looked at the designs Cinderella had made.
"Hey! We can do it!" A female mouse suddenly gasped. "We can fix Cinderella's dress for her!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Jaq agreed while the others quickly got on board. He turned to their new friend. "Aqua, will you help us make a new dress?"
"I'd love to." Aqua started and then frowned. "But I've never made a dress before, the most I can do is patch up clothes."
"We can do the sewing!" Smiled one of the female mice as the others began pulling out materials and supplies. "You two should go get some trimmings!"
"Oh, alright." The girl nodded before following Jaq into the mouse hole.
"Follow me, Aqua. I know where to go. It's gonna be pretty pretty, this dress! Cinderella will be surprised!"
The two scurried into the house to find materials, Jaq explaining another thing about the house. "Be careful of Lucifer, Aqua. Lucifer's a cat! He's mean… sneaky… he'll jump at you, bite at you!"
Aqua stumbled away when he hissed at her and then nodded. "I understand. I've faced plenty of tricky monsters lately, still, I hope that training will be enough…"
They peeked out to see the stepsisters going through their things, tossing stuff half-hazardously to the ground.
"Mother, I don't see why everybody else seems to have such nice things to wear, and I always end up in these old rags. This sash! Why, I wouldn't be seen dead in it!"
"You should speak! These beads! I'm sick of looking at them! Trash!"
Aqua and Jaq smiled at each other after seeing the beads and sash thrown to the ground, they'd be perfect for the dress.
"You go for the sash, I'll get the beads," Aqua whispered once the sisters were gone.
Jaq nodded and the two split up.
Aqua ran up to the beads and wound them around her tiny body in an attempt to carry them all. She glanced around, no sign of the cat.
She didn't realize that Lucifer had already snuck up behind her and raised a paw to play with his new prey.
"Look out!"
Aqua turned in time to see Lucifer get bonked with a ball of yarn. She looked up to see Jaq on a nearby table, hurtling one ball of yarn after another. "Aqua, get away! Hurry, hurry!"
Aqua nodded in thanks before sprinting towards the mouse hole.
Lucifer hissed, glaring between the mice and deciding which he wanted more. Craving vengeance as well as a meal, the cat rammed itself into the shelves, knocking Jaq off balance and sending her to the ground.
"Jaq!" Aqua gasped. She slid in front of Jaq before Lucifer could eat him, summoning her keyblade. "I don't think so!"
"Oww, my head," Jaq mumbled before realizing Aqua was passing the necklace of pearls to him.
"I'll hold him off, you get out of here!" Aqua ordered.
Jaq nodded, wrapping the pearls around his body before scurrying off.
The cat bared its teeth and Aqua steeled herself, knowing it could chew her up in seconds.
"Alright… Playtime's over, Lucifer!"
One of Lucifer's claws clashed with Aqua's keyblade and she had to summon spears of ice to hold back the other three. She hissed back and gritted her teeth before shoving off with a yell, the ice shattering in time with her.
The wielder only had a few moments of head start before Lucifer began to chase her again.
The pink sash hung alluringly off the high sofa and Aqua was just able to grab it after leaping off a cast of air.
She grappled it wildly before climbing up just before Lucifer could get her, hitting the sofa instead.
Aqua leaped onto the cat's back and used the sash as a blindfold, thinking she'd outsmarted the predator but it only made Lucifer more upset, running around the room trying to get it off.
"Whoa!"
She held fast and managed to grapple the sash until she made it to the top of Lucifer's head. She struck down with the blunt handle of her keyblade, knocking him unconscious.
The wielder slid down carefully to find Jaq there to help her down.
"Oh, that's a big thank you!" Jaq cried, taking in the sleeping Lucifer with wide eyes.
"No need to thank me, you saved me, and I saved you. It's what friends do." Aqua smiled at him.
The mouse grinned, crossing his arms with pride. "Yep! Aqua and Jaq are great friends!"
"That's right. Now, we have a dress to finish!"
After finally finishing all her chores, Cinderella returned to her dark room. By now, her stepfamily was probably putting the finishing touches on themselves, about to head off to the ball, and she… "Oh, well…What's a royal ball? After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull, and boring, and completely…completely wonderful."
"Cinderella!"
She turned at hearing Aqua's voice and the birds pushed open her folding screen to reveal the gown they'd all worked so hard on. "It's my…!"
"Suprise! Surprise!" The mice cried happily while she ran up, hugging it close.
"Well, I never dreamed..! How could I ever…? It's such a surprise, oh, thank you so much!"
"You'd better get going, you don't want to be late to the ball, do you?" Aqua reminded her gently.
Cinderella smiled before shaking her head and hurrying off to change into her dress.
While the other mice settled down for bed, their hearts full of excitement for their dear friend, Aqua and Jaq climbed up to the windowsill together.
"I hope Cinderella's dream comes true," Aqua whispered, looking at the castle that glittered and shone just as brightly as the stars surrounding it. All the worlds seemed to share the same beautiful sky…
Jaq nodded, gazing at it wistfully. "I do too… What's your dream, Aqua?"
My dream…? Well, that's easy. She thought.
"Being a keyblade master is all I've ever dreamed about!" Terra once exclaimed after Eraqus had finished lessons for the day. The boy was still at it, how could he not be if he was to become a master?
Aqua looked up, a faint smile blooming on her face. She was getting better and better at expressing herself these days. "You're not the only one, Terra."
He nodded. "I know. You, me, and Ven all share the same dream."
"My dream is to become a Keyblade Master, it's been my dream for as long as I can remember." She summoned her keyblade, gently tracing her finger along the blade.
"I hope your dream comes true too."
"Thank you, Jaq." She smiled. "And I'm sure it will if I just keep believing."
Jaq nodded in agreement.
After a few more minutes of stargazing, Aqua knew it was time to leave. She bid farewell to her new friends and Jaq, now more determined than ever to make her dream a reality.