Chapter 1
Dive
The only way Mae could describe whatever the hell was going on was that she was falling. Like… for a comically long time. Pretty slowly too, she was sure. Into a dark void. Of nothingness. And probably goat demons or something.
The sudden halt to her descent made her jump slightly as her feet softly pattered onto some kind of soft ground. Mae squinted her eyes skeptically at the ground, giving it a few good kicks before deciding it was good enough to walk on. As if on cue, the ground burst into a flock of doves. They soared, disappearing into the void and revealing a stained glass mural underneath.
"ARRGH! WHAT THE EFF WAS THAT!?" Mae shouted, shielding both her eyes and herself from the sudden barrage of light and birds. She took a few seconds to compose herself before glancing at her surroundings.
"Is that… is that me?" Her eyes widened in confusion as she beheld a stained glass mural; one depicting herself sleeping along with portraits of her friends Gregg, Angus, and Bea. The cat took a step back out of fear, overwhelmed by the strange scenario playing out before her.
Just… what was this? Was this one of her like, whack dreams again? The ones where she beat the shit out of random things? But it felt all too real for that. Well, more real than those already real-feeling dreams. Listen, it was just more real! She didn't know how to explain it- it just was.
A voice soon interrupted her internal rambling. "The door is almost open. You must hurry. Don't be afraid."
Mae spun on her heels, looking frantically around her. Her fur stood on edge. "Who are you?! WHERE are you?!"
"Don't be afraid." The disambiguated voice repeated.
"ARGH! That's not the problem here!", Mae retorted
"Take a step forward."
Figuring that whatever was talking to her wasn't actually listening to her, she decided to humor it. When she took a few steps forward, three pedestals appeared at the edges of the stained glass mural. Well, circles don't have edges but you get the idea.
"Power sleeps within you…" Mae turned to see a red shield appear on one of the pedestals, holding a very much copyrighted mouse logo on it. Much like the pedestals, it had suddenly come into existence. "If you give it form… It will give you strength." The next pedestal over bore a blue staff, the one beyond it hosting an imposing sword. "Choose well."
Mae immediately went to the sword and snatched it without hesitation. DUDE. It was a FREAKING SWORD. Of course she would take it!
"The power of the warrior… Invincible courage. A sword of terrible
destruction. Is this the power you seek?"
"Duhhh. It's a freaking sword!" Mae exclaimed, bringing her arms up in excitement. She immediately began swinging it around with animated sound effects ."Swoosh! Shwing! Schlap!" The cat stopped "…Schlap? Ignore that one."
The voice seemed unamused, simply opting to have the sword disappear in a flash of light.
"Awww what?!"
" Now, what will you give up in exchange?"
Give up in exchange? She turned to the other pedestals. "Uhhhhhhh…" Definitely the shield. I mean, who would wanna give up magic?! "This one," she said, picking up the shield and raising it overhead.
"The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You give up this power?"
Mae hesitated. Did it really have to say it like that? She may have given it up without a thought before but… "No," she said, putting down the shield sadly. "I guess not." She walked over to the staff instead, picking it up and offering it forward.
"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You give up this power?"
"Yeah," Mae said, a resolve burning in her eyes. The staff disappeared before her in another flash of light.
"You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?"
The cat nodded her head sagely, awaiting a response from the voice. However, she was instead met with the ground shaking violently.
"WOAH! What the-" Mae couldn't finish as several shadowy figures emerged from the ground, surrounding her. With a flash of light, a large key appeared in her hand. It had a black handle with a bright blue guard. The end of the key was shaped in the form of a star. Starlight it was called. She gave the keyblade a few ginger swings, holding it as though it was her trusty baseball bat. The key felt surprisingly light for how large it actually was. This could actually make for a pretty decent bludgeoning weapon.
"You've gained the power to fight."
"I could always fight!" The cat steadied herself as several small shadow figures approached her. Mae went on the offensive, dashing forward and taking a heavy swing at one of them. The attack connected, leaving the Heartless stunned as she used the momentum of her first swing to spin around and deal a finishing blow to it. The creature seemed to explode into nothingness as a heart flew upwards. "Thought: two hit combos are really hard." A shadow lunged at her at alarming speeds. She could barely dodge it by jumping over to the left. However, as she landed, another shadow appeared from the ground and slashed at her.
"ARGH!" She screamed as she fell backward. "THAT EFFING HURT!" Mae stumbled, catching her fall. She wasn't gonna die here in some weird ass dream. Surprisingly, there wasn't blood or even any damage to her orange shirt. Dream logic. With renewed vigor, she swung at the Heartless with more swift attacks, making sure to isolate them from each other. Screw combos, she was just gonna swing at them like she swung at anything else. And so, she pounded at them like the windows of an abandoned store. Except well, these windows also kept moving and actively fighting back. With a final jumping swing, she vanquished the last of the creatures, expelling another heart from its death.
"Hah… Ha…" Mae panted, slightly winded from the fight "I think… that's all... Of them…" A door appeared in front of her, with a big keyhole on it. As if her body acted on its own, the cat raised her keyblade and tapped it against the door, opening it slightly. She slowly pushed it open before a bright light completely enveloped her.
"MY EYES!"
When everything came to, she instantly recognized where she was. She was in a clearing in the woods a little away from Possums Springs. She took a little time to admire the beauty of it all. The auburn leaves swirled in the wind as the late afternoon sun peaked through the hedges of the remaining leaves. The pond bubbled with lively fish as birds, "Northern Dumbfowl" as one of her friends aptly named, attempted (and failed) to catch them. And over by the edge of the pond was…
"GREGG! GREGG!" Mae exclaimed, waving her arms, keyblade absent while running at her best friend. Gregg was standing back to the pond, seemingly already facing her. His black leather jacket seemed to glisten in the sun at the rate she was approaching him. "GREGGG!"
"..." Gregg didn't respond. The fox didn't move at all- his face remaining expressionless as he peered directly ahead.
"Gregg?" Mae cautiously asked. "You okay dude?"
"..."
"Dude, this isn't funny." Mae continued. She waved her hand in front of his face. "Helloooooo. Earth to Gregg."
Finally, the orange fox spoke up. "What's most important to you?"
"What? Dude, what are you doing?" the cat asked, squinting her eyes at the motionless fox.
"What's most important to you?" Gregg repeated, soulless as ever.
"..." Mae didn't know how to respond. Why was Gregg acting like this? Well, probably because it was a dream but still… "Friends. My friends are the most important to me. You, Angus, Bea… You're all important to me." She said, staring solemnly. It was true, her friends and family were all she had. She didn't have a job, a lover, or anything like that instead.
"Is friendship such a big deal?" Gregg asked before everything went white again.
Mae had little time to react, closing her eyes and covering them with her hands immediately.
"HAHA! You can't blind ME twice!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. She took the time to look around, noticing that her surroundings changed. She was still in the woods, just a different part of it. As she inhaled the crisp autumn air, she noticed a… what was it again? Limekiln or something like that. Soooo, she was at Possum Jump then. I mean, that's the only place she's ever seen these around here. Running up the hill in front of her, she saw the graves of those killed in the Possum Massacre way back. And in front of them was Gregg's boyfriend Angus. He was already staring at her through his big circular glasses.
"Angus?" Mae questioned as she approached the bear
"What do you want out of life?" Angus questioned, just as emotionless as Gregg had been minutes earlier.
Ahh. So that's how it is. But… That's kinda of a loaded question, isn't it? " I dunno what I want in life. It's a big confusing mess. Things change, everything changes." She said, hoping that would satisfy the bear.
"What do you want out of life?" Angus questioned once again.
"Argh… Dammit. Guess not then." Mae said, exasperated. Her eyes drooped, thinking of a suitable response. "Well, fine! I just want to not feel like absolute trash all the time! There. Happy?" She said, squinting her eyes skeptically at Angus.
"No" Angus started, adjusting his glasses while staring at Mae "But, it'll do for now," he finished before the light enveloped everything again.
"That damn light thing is really getting old," Mae muttered, blinking her eyes open as she found herself suddenly teleported again, this time to a cemetery. Waiting for her there was her "Best Available Friend" Bea. The alligator stood there in front of the graves.
"What are you most afraid of?" Bea asked
Mae looked down at her hands and back to Bea, the alligator staging passively. "I'm… I'm afraid of losing the people closest to me. I'm afraid of not being there when they need me the most." Mae answered simply, her head hanging low. What else could she be afraid of?
For a second, she could've sworn the alligator's eyes softened, and then it was right back to the same cool stare. "Is losing the people you love really that scary?" Bea turned to face the Sun. "You walk a difficult and painful path."
"So, that's a bad thing…?" Mae questioned eyes looking curiously at the girl.
"..." No response as light filled the area once more.
"Seriously. Like, stop it. Every. Single. Time." Mae groaned as the scene transitioned. She found herself back at the stained glass mural. The Station of Awakening came to her mind. Weird.
"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes," the ever-present voice began as Mae's shadow started growing in size.
"WOAH. WOAH. WHAT THE EFFF IS THAT THING!?" That shadow continued to grow, turning into a towering beast that stood as tall as a skyscraper. Its arms and legs were proportional to its size. Within the mass of tendrils that was this creature's head, bore two yellow, shimmering eyes. The name Darkside Heartless came to mind.
The hulking creature began slamming its fists into the ground, seemingly plunging it beneath the surface as lasers began firing at the cat.
Mae had no idea what to do. "Holy shit holy shit holy shit." Light surged in her hands as Starlight took form, but she wasn't sure if that was going to be enough.
"But don't be afraid."
Oh yeah. That's reassuring. Don't be afraid of the giant black demon thing that's gonna kill you. Surely that's all she needed.
Mae looked horrified as the Darkside pulled up its arm from the ground to reveal a giant mass of dark energy. It picked it up overhead before it broke into smaller balls falling rapidly in her direction.
She tried to dodge the best she could, using her quick reflexes to avoid most of the balls, and swung the rest back at the beast until a swipe from one of its arms sent her into oblivion.
"So don't forget...You hold the mightiest weapon of all." Mae heard before everything went black.
Author's Note: Sooo, I had this cooking for a lil while. It's a bit hard to get Mae's voice right so I may have overplayed it. Anyhow, I have the next few chapters planned but this story is gonna be updated irregularly. Leave any suggestions you have about what Disney worlds you want featured later on!