Chapter 23
There was quite a crowd of people where the tanks were and the weaponry. There were disney heroes Sora recognized as well as heroes from other realms.
Aladdin was there (perhaps he never sided with Xehanort as previously thought of), Hercules, Sinbad, Shrek, Aslan the Lion, Simba, Dumbo, Milo Thatch and his wife Kira Thatch, Tarzan and Jane, Spongebob himself, Winnie the Pooh, Balto, Jack Skellington, Alice and Arthur… Alice and Arthur! Sora stopped looking at everyone and kept his eyes on them! They looked slightly the same age as him, at 14 perhaps. If Sora could cut through the crowd to speak with them. Suddenly, Kim and Ron Stoppable appeared with an angry looking naked mole rat on Ron's shoulder. They were the bodyguards of Snow White, who came in with Denahi. Sora recognized that young man. And walking a few steps from behind them was….
Soren.
Sora's jaw dropped. All of this was happening now! Right now! And there, standing next to Snow White and Denahi was Soren. It didn't take long for Sora to figure out who Soren was and why he wasn't in any dream.
"The royal family is here! The true rulers of the world!" declared Sebastian the crab, who was on Soren's shoulder.
"Greetings everybody. As most of you know, I am Princess Snow White." she introduced herself. Snow White was nothing at all like how she appeared in the dreams or in her original story. She had long curly black hair, wore armor plates and she still wore a yellow skirt, although it showed that she was wearing blue pants underneath with long black boots. She also had two holsters on the side of her hips, suggesting she was probably a gun slinger like Goofy
Denahi lowered his head to Snow White, but she kissed him tenderly on the head. Now Denahi was of Native American Heritage. He was shirtless, but wore a long blue cape and he had tattoos all over his body. He had a handsome face with beautiful shiny black hair. He was slim, but his body was toned. Sora wasn't sure who he was attracted to. Snow White and Denahi looked so perfect. He slightly envied their good looks.
"I am Prince Denahi. And this is our son, Prince Soren." said Denahi.
Everyone murmured in excitement and welcoming voices. Things were at last making sense to Sora. Both Snow White and Denahi were from different stories. In this reality, they met and married and had a son. That son was Soren. He was not in any story Sora knew. This was huge news. Soren was exactly as how he appeared in the dreams. His golden skin and jet black hair from both his parents. His eyes were brown and the warmth of his personality was there. He was holding on to a rabbit in his arms. Soren was wearing a blue cape like his father, but he wore a shirt underneath. A dark yellow one, obviously referring to his mother.
"As you are all well aware, the Heartless have appeared in our world. As the prophecy once stated. And our fears have been realized. Xehanort made a pact with Chernabog." said Snow White.
There were gasps in the crowd.
"That's no good." said Donald.
"Gwarsh. That's the devil!" cried Goofy in fear.
"This is an outrage! They must be stopped! I hear the one winged angel and Frollo are there!" exclaimed Zazu, a hornbill.
"Calm yourself Zazu. The school is currently safe. It's been under lock down. No one leaves or enters Oblivion." said Denahi.
"I was able to get out in time. But we must hurry and plan to save the children there!" said Milo.
"According to my wife, there is enough food for everyone. But it's only a matter of weeks until they run out of supplies." said the Beast.
"We have good news everyone! We are going to raid the school two days from now." said Sebastian.
Snow White and Denahi shot him a look. "No. That cannot be." said Snow White.
"I'm sorry, but Sebastian wasn't informed. The attack on Oblivion will begin one week from now. We must all prepare to fight against them." said Denahi.
"R-right! One week! I was misinformed." said Sebastian, bowing his head down to everyone.
Sora knew he had to say something. There was an urge inside him to speak. To say a couple of words.
"Xehanort is an old man! I understand why you would all be scared of Sephiroth, but both Frollo and Xehanort are frail old men! Why is everyone so scared?" asked Sora aloud.
Goofy quickly pulled Sora to his side and Donald stood in front of him.
"Excuse my son." said Goofy.
"Son?" thought Sora with a smile in his head.
"My nephew came from Oblivion and he's seen Xehanort in person. He doesn't know he's horrible." said Donald, also defending Sora.
Prince Soren got out of the platform he was on, and walked towards the trio. Snow White and Denahi observed him in concern, like two parents watching their kids play on a play structure.
"Do you know who Chernabog is?" asked Prince Soren, almost angrily.
Sora stepped away from Donald and Goofy to stand in front of the prince. Soren, despite being a little angry, didn't look menacing. He was very approachable and Sora felt easy to speak his mind.
"Xehanort is frail and old. I've seen him hurt my brother, and he almost lost his breath…" Sora paused at the awful memory when the old man was beating Vanitas back in the nursery.
"I know who Chernabog is. I… read about him. But how can he bestow that man powers if he can die easily just for punching somebody in the gut?" asked Sora.
Soren shook his head, as if he was feeling pity for Sora. However, it didn't look that way to Sora. Soren looked authentically sad. Not at Sora. But in the situation they were all in.
"Chernabog's powers are way superior than Hades and The Horned King. The three great evils of our world. Perhaps you heard of them? Xehanort, Frollo and Sephiroth wish to be superior to those three. If they succeed, everything we know and love will burn." said Soren, almost whispering to Sora.
"Christopher Robin… did he die fighting one of them?" asked Sora.
Soren was surprised by Sora's question. "How did… yes. He did. He was fighting against the Horned King." said Sora.
"Can you tell me one day. When your ready?" asked Sora.
"Let's go and talk. You and me." said Soren.
He turned to his parents and smiled. They understood him. They then continued to announce more things to the other heroes while Soren and Sora walked away. Goofy and Donald wanted to follow them, but Sora assured them he was going to be fine.
They both walked out for fresh air in a private garden. It resembled a little like the gardens Sora has seen at Acme Acres and Oblivion. But this garden felt more cozy and more at home. There were benches, a bird bath, and statues of deer and wolves.
"Who are you?" asked Prince Soren.
"I would like to ask you the same thing. I'm surprised I get to talk to you, even after recently knowing who you are." said Sora.
"You look familiar." said Soren.
"I will tell you what is going on. I'll be fast." said Sora. He briefly told Soren what he saw in dreams and about his escape from Oblivion. Not all the details, but just brief explanation on things.
"Xehanort is so evil. How can he do that to your brother?" said Soren.
"Xehanort was losing his breath and he looked like he was going to fall to the ground. Which is why I was weirded out that everyone is treating him like some sort of all powerful wizard." said Sora.
"That's because he is. You see… I dream things too." said Soren.
"You do?" asked Sora, surprised.
"Yes. I know who you are… in another life. You are Sora, the chosen one to open the door to light. You wield the Keyblade, and you fight for the good in the world." said Soren.
"Yes! You have seen the dreams!" said Sora, glad that there were more people who experienced that phenomenon.
"Then you know who Xehanort is in those dreams. He's the reason you suffer." said Soren.
"Yes. But that happens in the dreams. Xehanort does not have a Keyblade! Not even me! Or anyone I know. It does not exist in our world." said Sora.
"But suppose it does. I'm alive, here in this world and I don't exist anywhere else." said Soren.
"You've seen the dreams with your parents in them?" asked Sora.
"I know my mother was a beloved princess in another kingdom. My father was the elder of a village, and my uncle was Kenai, the brother bear." said Soren.
"How did your parents meet and fall in love? Most of the couples I know were together from other dreams such as Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Belle and Beast…." Sora was saying.
"My father is my mother's second husband. Her first husband, Prince Adam, was killed by Frollo. He was against his false teachings and how he treated people. He sent his men to behead him in front of my mother." said Soren.
Sora didn't say a word. He had to tread carefully.
"My father had no wife in the dreams. He met my mother in the woods. She was helping a deer return home to it's family." said Soren.
"And the rest is history?" asked Sora with a smile.
"That's right. Then they had me. I started to have the dreams when I was ten. I didn't know who to turn to. So I went over to Tenana, the shaman woman. She told me that the dreams are warning us all of a coming threat." said Soren.
"Yeah. I heard that much. If this dimension, or rather our world dies, what will happen?" asked Sora.
"According to Tenana, if our world dies, it will create some sort of rip in the galaxy. Kinda like ripped clothes. When that happens, there will be unbalance and the other galaxies will suffer consequences. They will experience darkness like no other. It will spread like a virus and eventually, all those galaxies will be destroyed." said Soren.
"That sounds so unreal. Like a sci fi movie." said Sora.
"It does. Honestly, I laughed when I was told all this. But Tenana was dead serious. The galaxies have worlds in them. If they die, they will eventually wipe everything and there will be eternal darkness. The only survivors who will remain will be the six great evils… Chernabog, the Horned King, Hades, Frollo, Xehanort, and Sephiroth. I had a dream where they all fought with one another and it will be an eternal fight. There will be no winners. They will fight and fight and there will be no dimension. Nothing will live. Only they and they will be in a prison. An eternal prison where they will fight forever." said Soren.
Sora shook his head. "This is so unbelievable. I can't believe any of this." said Sora.
"I didn't believe it either. So, I told my family about it and we all decided to fight them. If the great six evils are destroyed, then we will be saved." said Soren.
"You forgot one great evil. Where does Maleficent fit in all this? She was at Oblivion as a guest." said Sora.
"This is going to be hard to explain. For some reason, she does not appear with those villains. She doesn't stand with them. In fact, she goes against them." said Soren.
"Okay. That is much more unbelievable." said Sora.
"Everything I told you is so unreal. At the time, my friends were just kids. But when we got into this fight, we lost him. So far, we lost a few good people in our fight. Christopher Robin, Mufasa, Prince Adam, and King Triton." said Soren.
"Mufasa is dead? Since when? Isn't he the mayor of Twilight Town?" asked Sora.
"Lies. Scar is the mayor. Which reminds me… Scar is another evil we should worry about. He works on his own and has his own machinations." said Soren.
"Great. More questions than answers." said Sora.
"I'm just as tired as you are. I HATE having dreams and nightmares about the end, and other stories. So many people lose their loved ones, or face great perils. If I can have one wish, it would be for all our lives to go back to the way they were. Simple. And clean." said Soren.
"Simple and clean huh? Yeah. But, my life wasn't like that at all. My brothers and I were suffering in this world too." said Sora.
The boys stood in silence for a while.
"Sora, say you have the Keyblade in our world. Would you fight those evils, with your friends by your side?" asked Soren.
Sora turned to Soren and smiled sadly. "IF there were a Keyblade and I did have one… believe me. I would fight."