Chapter 61

Midnight

Everyone present remained silent, stunned by the tragic tale that Mickey had told. Sora, Riku and Kairi stared, the former two with their jaws agape. Riku noticed that Donald and Goofy looked down in sorrow. He was not surprised, as he did not doubt that Mickey's oldest friends, who might as well have been with him during that time, would know the story.

"I'm sorry," Sora finally said. "That had to have been really hard to go through."

"And to have it weighing on your mind for twelve years… I couldn't imagine that sort of trauma," Kairi said sympathetically.

"That's so sad," Cinderella agreed.

"Poor, poor Venven," Jaq added.

The King cleared his throat. "Yes, that is quite tragic. While we cannot do anything to help you with that, or to undo what has been done, perhaps there may be a way we can assist you in your current task."

"Hm?" Sora, Riku and Kairi turned to face the King. Donald and Goofy soon followed their example, while Mickey was lost in his despair.

"Please, my boy, tell us more about the fiends who are controlling the Heartless," the King elaborated. "What are they plotting? And how may we be of assistance?"

"Oh. Well…" Sora took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "Well, they're trying to get to a dangerous power, and to do that they're looking for these artifacts," he explained, careful not to say more than necessary out of respect to the need to keep it a secret. "There's one on each world, and from what we've figured out, someone's been tasked with guarding it. We haven't really figured out all the details, but we do know that we need to stop them from getting them all."

The King raised an eyebrow quizzically. "So, you have come to the conclusion that the artifact the enemy seeks is within these walls?" he surmised. Sora nodded. "Well, I am sorry, but I know nothing of any such item." Prince Charming shook his head, confirming that he knew nothing of the matter, while Cinderella merely followed the conversation with eyes full of intrigue.

Sora was not thrown by this statement. In fact, he, as well as some of his friends, were already suspecting that there was someone else who would be dedicated to ensuring the artifact's security. "We've been to some other worlds and realized that it's not always the ruler who's in charge of it, so I'm not totally surprised you didn't know."

The Grand Duke harrumphed. "Well, then, suppose you do find these artifacts: what would you mean to do with them?" he asked strictly. Riku shared a curious look with Kairi and Goofy, and it was apparent that they had noticed it too. He had given himself away without even thinking.

"Well, we're not really sure what we would do with them, exactly," Sora admitted, "but we would do everything we can to keep them safe."

All eyes turned on the Grand Duke. It was clear to everyone that he knew more than he had been intending to share. But, at least to Sora and Riku, and even Mickey, who had finally been brought back to the present, he was more concerned with the sanctity of the worlds and making sure the warriors who stood before him were trustworthy.

"My friend, do you know something about this?" the King asked.

The Grand Duke gasped and flinched. His monocle fell off and he fumbled to catch it. Once that had been done, he took a handkerchief from his pocket, cleaned the lens, and placed the glass back over his eye as if nothing was wrong. "Well, ahem…" he stammered, realizing that he could no longer maintain his secret until the moment he deemed the Keyblade wielders to be the best option available.

"Oh, please, sir," Cinderella entreated. "They are trying to help us."

"Well, I'll have you know that the item is quite safe as is," the Grand Duke told them. "In fact, its safety is affirmed every hour."

The party pondered this clue. How would he know that it was safe every hour?

Donald's eyes widened as he realized something. Or, to be more specific, he noticed something. "You mean that hour?" he asked, pointing his finger upward.

This only confused the others more, but Cinderella seemed to understand. "Would anyone know what time it is?" she asked.

Mickey pulled out a pocket watch, which he had wound and set so that its display lined up with the time in Castle of Dreams, like he did every time he arrived on a new world. During the last few trips, he used the Gummi Ship's computer to check the time of day on the point where they would land. Before that, when he was soaring between worlds with his Keyblade Glider, he either improvised or did nothing about it.

"It's a minute after midnight," he announced. His eyes widened as he understood what that meant. "Shouldn't the bell have rung to mark the hour?"

Kairi gasped as she realized something. She whirled around and looked one of the guards in the eye. She shifted her gaze to the other guard, not sure which one she was thinking of before settling back on the first guard. "You said that the Heartless weren't swarming around any place that you could see, right?" The guard nodded nervously. "What if they were searching someplace that wasn't on your patrol routes?"

Everyone suddenly understood what was going on. "The clock!" Mickey blurted.

"The minute hand," Sora guessed. The Grand Duke jumped, surprised that he had figured it out. He gulped when he realized what his body language had conveyed, and he realized that he was going to have to come clean. He then remembered the slightly more crucial part about the fact that the artifact had been stolen.

"They must have dismantled the clock mechanism when detaching the hand," Mickey surmised. "That's why the bell didn't ring."

"It was still on when we came in," Riku said. "Whoever took it couldn't have gotten far."

"Let's go!" Sora said. With that, everyone turned and ran out of the ballroom.

They exited into the courtyard and found a familiar figure jogging away. Their chubby rival carried a large clock hand.

"Hold it right there, Pete!" Sora shouted. He brandished his Keyblade, as did his friends.

Pete stopped mid-stride and turned his head to see who all was behind him. He found that all were behind him. "D'oh! This was supposed to be a simple mission. Spy a bit, then a grab-and-go job," he complained to himself.

"Drop the art… arti… Drop the thing and go, Pete," Goofy ordered.

Pete chuckled nervously. "Oh, hey, neighbor. I heard your boy Max made knight. Congrats, pal!"

"A-hyuck! Thanks," Goofy replied. After a split second, he remembered what they were doing and reclaimed his battle-ready expression.

Sora was confused. "Wait. What did you mean by 'spy a bit'?" he asked.

Pete realized that he had said too much. He would have facepalmed if he was not holding onto the clock hand. "Well, uh, about that…"

"You were eavesdropping on us at the bakery!" Sora accused, remembering the stubs he had seen poking out from behind the crates and realizing that they were Pete's ears and the tip of his shoe. "You wanted to see how much we knew about these," he guessed, waving his hand at the clock hand as he said "these".

Riku raised his Keyblade. "Put it down and leave, and we won't give you too much trouble."

Pete shook his head. "Oh, no. I'm not letting you bozos take the point!" He let out a whistle. "Come on, chump! Get over here! Tick-Tock! Hurry up, Midnight Ball!"

The Keyblade wielders and their companions tensed up. They knew what that meant. Pete was summoning a semi-powerful Heartless to fight them.

Huh. Pete names them too, Sora thought.

The Heartless that appeared looked distinctly robotic. Its main body was a large off-white box with a working clock face on the front. The inner circle, flanked by a ring marked with the Roman Numerals I through XII, was clear, almost glass-like, offering a look into the machine's inner workings, which appeared to run based on clockwork gears. The head appeared trapezoidal and of a deep shade of blue, with a vertical triangle in front where a "mouth" would be. Aside from the circular eyes sticking out of the tapering head with asymmetrical pieces of metal rotating around the inner ring, the head looked a lot like a frontal section of roofing on the castle. Its limbs' movement seemed to work around a pin-and-joint system. The right arm came out into a blocky hand, and the fingers were made of cylinders joined together by cables. The left arm, however, ended in a large metal ball that was the same color as the head. A silver band marked with thorns not unlike the marks on the Heartless emblem wrapped around the ball. Beneath the main body, a pyramid shape tapered inward until it met a blue gear, which turned along with the gears inside the main body. The whole body balanced on a transparent blue sphere. Two metal rings wrapped around the inner face of the sphere and spun at different speeds.

Pete cackled. "Well, good luck beating this guy," he boasted. "Later, losers!"

"We can't let him get away!" Mickey said.

"We shall deal with him," one of the guards assured. He and his companion ran around the Heartless in pursuit of Pete. Prince Charming drew his own sword and followed them.

Sora led the attack on the Heartless. He noticed that the clock on its chest had only two hands, and the minute hand was ticking with every second, reminding him of a fiend he had faced before. He could only hope that this creature's gimmick was not anything like before.

The Midnight Ball swung its right arm at him, but Sora rolled to safety and swung his Keyblade at the hand. It swung its left arm down and hit him in the side with the wrecking ball. Donald cast Firaga and Blizzaga at the ball. Kairi stood at a distance and cast Thunder. She watched the clock on the Heartless' chest curiously. She noticed that the hour hand was almost at twelve.

Riku struck the right arm, but realized that physical attacks were not affecting the robotic Heartless as much as magic was. He pointed his Keyblade at the chest and prepared to launch a volley of Dark Fire when he heard a humming sound, a sound distinct from the tick-tick-tick and grinding of the gears. He lowered his gaze toward the sphere beneath the main body and realized that it was pulsing with multicolored light. He did not have enough time to get out of the way before the built-up energy shot out of the sphere and blasted him across the courtyard.

Mickey ran to his aid. Sora prepared to launch a string of Blizzaga spells. Kairi willed lightning to envelop her Keyblade and prepared to throw it at the Heartless.

Then both the minute and hour hands on the Heartless' clock hit twelve. A dome of indigo light expanded from the crystal sphere. The wave passed through everyone, seemingly harmless. However, they were quick to notice that something was wrong. Sora watched one of his Blizzaga spells vanish in midair, and he found himself unable to cast more. Kairi arced her arm to throw her Keyblade just as the wave passed her. To her surprise, the lightning crackling around her weapon fizzled out and the Keyblade fell to the ground unceremoniously like dead weight. Mickey reached Riku two seconds after the wave passed both of them and raised his Keyblade to cast Curaga, but nothing happened.

"What the—?" Sora wondered aloud. He felt the Keyblade grow heavier in his hand, though it was not much of a burden aside from the fact that it felt slightly unbalanced. He jumped out of the way as the Midnight Ball swung its hand at him again.

Kairi stretched her arm out and willed the Keyblade to return to her hand, but nothing happened. She ran over to pick it up and found that it was heavier than she remembered it being.

Donald swung his staff and tried to cast spells. "Fire! Fire! Blizzard. Thunder. Aero?" Nothing happened. "What's going on? Wak!" He ran away before the Heartless could bring its wrecking ball down on him.

Goofy was confused as well, but unperturbed, as he was the only one in the party who relied solely on his own strength. He swung his shield at the joint of the Heartless' arm, but he was not able to do much before his foe swung its arm back.

Sora, Donald and Kairi regrouped with Mickey and Riku, the latter of whom was still aching from some broken ribs and possible bruising and was barely able to keep sitting up. Cinderella joined them and helped stabilize Riku.

"How are you doing?" Kairi asked, concerned.

"Never better," Riku said sarcastically. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"What just happened?" Sora asked in regards to the broader situation at hand. "It just shut off all our magic. Even the Keyblade's drained. How is that even possible?"

"That anti-magic pulse must have gone off when the clock in its chest struck midnight," Kairi explained.

"Just like how my coach turned back into a pumpkin and the horses became mice again after midnight during my ball," Cinderella agreed.

"And go figure, magic works better on this thing than blunt force," Riku groaned.

"Look. The Heartless' clock is still stuck at midnight!" Mickey pointed out. They all looked at the Midnight Ball and realized that he was right. They also noticed that the bands inside of the crystal sphere were glowing with the same indigo light.

"Maybe if we reset the clock, the magic will come back on," Sora suggested.

"How did you figure that out so quickly?" Cinderella asked, surprised.

"I've been doing this for a while," Sora replied bluntly. "Cover me, okay?"

He ran straight at the Heartless, followed by Mickey, Kairi and Donald. He rolled under a swiping arm and jumped up to his foe's chest, grabbing onto the shoulder to hold himself level with the clock.

Donald swatted the hand ineffectually with his staff, hoping to at least get its attention. It worked too well, and the Heartless backhanded him. Mickey jumped around and swatted its left arm with his Keyblade, daring it to attack with its wrecking ball. He knew that it would not use the wrecking ball on Sora, lest it deal damage to itself, but drawing its fire was a good way to keep it distracted from attempting to thwart Sora in his goal. Goofy threw his shield repeatedly, trying to break through the crystal sphere. Kairi swung her Keyblade at the fingers, hoping to slice through the cables. She swelled with confidence when she made a cut into one of the cords, but it was not at the proper angle to break through.

Sora dropped his Keyblade and grabbed onto the minute hand with his now-free hand. He pulled on it, making it turn counterclockwise. When he had turned it a quarter of the way around, the hour hand clicked away from the twelve.

The light emanating from the bands faded. Sora smiled as he felt a power surge through him. It had been a long time since he had even registered that energy; since at least the point when he first learned Cure, he had grown used to that power flowing through his system. It felt like things were returning to normal in his body. With this swell of confidence, Sora lifted his leg up and kicked the minute hand down, spinning it around the clock until it was back at the twelve and the hour hand was now at eleven.

The others felt their strength returning. Mickey and Kairi felt their Keyblades become lighter and more balanced. Remembering that there was some need for magic aside from combat, Mickey ran back to Riku and cast Curaga. Riku breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. He flourished his Keyblade and ran to rejoin the fray.

Sora managed to bring the clock back to 10:50 before the Heartless' hand grabbed him, yanked him off, and threw him aside. He tried to do more to disrupt the Midnight Ball's clockwork before he was thrown away, but he only managed to crack the glass behind the hands.

Donald launched a series of Fire and Blizzard spells at both the crystal sphere and the wrecking ball arm. Mickey fired Pearl spells at the Heartless' face. Kairi cast Gravity on the hand, pulling it down to the ground. Goofy worked his way around and, noticing the crack in the glass, threw his shield to break a sizeable hole.

Sora saw that while they were working, the clock on the Heartless' chest had gone back to 11:30. He pointed his Keyblade at the clock and shouted "Stopga!"

The clock hands stopped moving, and for a few seconds it appeared to have worked. However, the gears inside the Heartless were still turning, struggling to make the hands move. Soon, they succeeded, and broke the clock free from the spell's effects.

Sora's eyes widened. "We need to beat this thing before it shuts our magic down again!" he shouted. He shrouded his Keyblade in fire and threw it at the crystal sphere. He then jumped toward the Heartless to try to crank its clock back, but he was knocked aside with the wrecking ball. With five seconds left on the clock, he cast Cure on himself.

The clock struck midnight and magic was turned off once again. The party regrouped.

"We can't keep fighting like this," Donald complained.

"There has to be some way to keep it from cutting off our magic," Kairi said.

Cinderella studied the Midnight Ball. She examined the system of gears behind the clock and saw the hole that Sora and Goofy had made in the glass. Her mouth curled into a smile as an idea came to her mind. She looked around on the ground until she found Jaq, then crouched down to talk to him. "Jaq, can you get the others and bring them out here?" she asked.

Jaq nodded. "On it, Flinderelly!" He turned and ran over to the wall, then clambered through a hole that he and the other mice used to enter the castle.

Sora looked past the Heartless and saw that Pete was cornered by Prince Charming and the guards, but he was fighting back using the clock hand like a sword and occasionally dropping a few exploding balls.

"Kairi, Goofy, go help them," he ordered. "We'll try to get an edge on this thing."

Kairi and Goofy nodded and ran off to assist against Pete. The bully swung the clock hand with enough force to knock one guard aside. Goofy threw his shield at Pete's shoulder, throwing him off balance. Prince Charming kicked him, knocking him down and making him drop the artifact.

Pete grumbled in frustration and stomped hard on the ground, creating a shockwave that caused the prince and the guards to stumble. He stood up and threw a half dozen balls, which exploded on the ground and forced his foes to scatter.

Goofy ran over to the clock hand and tried to pick it up, though he had difficulty getting a good grip. Kairi ran up to Pete and swung her Keyblade at him. She hit him in the gut, causing him to grunt in pain. However, he noticed that she was not causing nearly as much pain as Sora, and simply picked her up by the arm.

"So, uh, who are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"Kairi," she answered, struggling in his grip.

"Kairi, huh? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before… Oh! You're the girlfriend, aren't you?"

"Yep. So, what's so special about that thing?" Kairi asked, nodding over to the clock hand.

"Oh, that? See, this strange feller told us that if we get that and things like it around the worlds, then we'll be able to find and… I'm about to spill everything, aren't I?"

"No, no. Please, continue." Kairi smiled playfully. "This is very interesting."

Pete cackled in amusement and mild confidence. "Oh, no. I'm not spoiling the ending like that! You won't beat me that easily!" With that, he tossed Kairi aside, causing her to land on her rear end. He clapped his hands and the artifact magnetically flew into his hand, thumping Goofy in the chin as it flew up. He caught it slightly clumsily but managed to get his bearings. He tapped his foot to conjure a Corridor of Darkness, but then remembered that magic was still not working. "Whoops," he muttered.

Kairi picked her Keyblade up and, holding it by the front end of the shaft, thumped Pete in the forehead with the butt of the weapon.

Meanwhile, while dodging attacks from the hand, wrecking ball, and crystal sphere with help from his friends, Sora managed to grab onto the Heartless and turn the clock back around. After kicking the minute hand back around to 11:00, he summoned his Keyblade to his hand and started smashing the glass, making the hole as large as he could. He managed to take out nearly a quarter of the glass disc before the Midnight Ball grabbed him and threw him off. However, the damage was done. Magic returned to the area and the party began barraging the Heartless with magic spells.

Kairi smirked at Pete and cast Thundara. A bolt of lightning came down and connected with the clock hand, which was raised like a lightning rod. Pete shook in pain and, after the strike left him scorched and smoking, stammered incoherently. Kairi then cast Aerora, which spun him around in a tornado, making him dizzy.

Pete groaned. "Don't remember the kid knowing that when we met," he remarked.

Kairi shrugged. "He remembered it a couple days after you last saw him," she explained. "I've been catching up." She cast Zero Gravity, lifting him in the air and leaving him to spin around slowly.

"Oh, that's no fair!" Pete complained. Kairi and Goofy simply laughed.

Meanwhile, Mickey had lobbed a Pearl spell into the Heartless' right eye when he noticed Jaq returning out of the corner of his eye. Jaq approached Cinderella, followed by five other mice. Mickey beckoned Sora and Donald to join them while Riku continued to attack the Midnight Ball.

"So, Flinderelly, how may Jaq and friends help-a Sora?" Jaq asked.

Cinderella shot a glance at Sora to include him in the plan as well. "If Sora can get you inside the Heartless, you can disrupt the gears and stop the clock from reaching midnight and depowering everyone," she explained.

"But how do we do that?" Donald asked.

"I know," Sora said, an idea forming in his head. "You guys create a distraction, keep it from focusing on us, then Jaq and his friends can climb into my hood. I'll jump onto that thing's chest and they can climb in." He looked at Jaq and smiled.

Jaq looked at his friends, who all nodded. He turned back to Sora and nodded. Sora cupped his hands and the mice stepped in. He brought them up to his shoulder and they climbed into his hood.

"Alright. Let's go," Mickey said. He ran over to the Midnight Ball. The Heartless brought its hand down to try to smash Riku, but he leapt out of the way. Mickey hopped onto the hand and ran up the arm. Donald ran up and started casting Blizzard on the arm while Mickey jumped onto the head and then on top of the wrecking ball. He conjured fireballs to revolve around him and attack the wrecking ball.

With thirty seconds on the clock, Sora charged in and threw himself at the unprotected chest. He grabbed onto the shoulder and planted his right foot on the minute hand, keeping it from ticking further. He stuck his arm into the hole in the glass and whistled for the mice. Jaq led his friends out of Sora's hood and along his arm. Jaq hopped off of Sora's hand and grabbed onto the teeth of the large central gear. He climbed up and grabbed onto the gear to the upper left, allowing the next mouse to hop in and follow suit. The third mouse dropped down to the gear directly below and hopped off to a horizontal gear.

The rest of the mice had jumped into the Heartless' machinery and found a place to work, and they had begun pushing and kicking the gears to try to dislodge them. Sora did his best to hold on and keep the minute hand stuck, but the Midnight Ball soon grabbed him and threw him off again. As he flew through the air, he pointed his finger at the Heartless' head and shot a beam of concentrated fire into the left eye. The eye burst into flames as Sora landed with a thud.

The party continued fighting while Kairi was busy messing with Pete. The Zero Gravity spell had worn off, but she simply cast Magnet to pull him into a vortex. Prince Charming and the guards were waiting for Pete to drop the clock hand so they could take it back, but his grip stayed firm, as if it were still magnetized to his gloves.

As Pete spun around the vortex, a large ball fell out of his back pocket. When it landed, it rolled a few inches, then started releasing smoke. Goofy gasped. "Everyone down!" he shouted. Kairi, Charming, and the guards threw themselves aside as the bowling ball exploded.

The Magnet spell faded and Pete landed on his feet. Without waiting for his opponents to get to their feet, he turned and ran, expecting that the Heartless would hit Midnight in moments.

In the last five seconds of magic, Sora, Mickey, Riku, and Donald fired third-tier spells at the crystal sphere. Sora and Mickey nervously watched the clock tick down. At three seconds left, they saw the gear on the top right pop loose and stop moving, and the wrecking ball arm froze. But the clock ticked down another second. Another gear, this one in the top left, was dislodged, and the right arm stopped moving. The clock ticked down to the last second.

Then it stopped. The minute hand did not move. The large gear behind it froze as well, as did the two gears below. The bands within the crystal sphere stopped spinning, and the entire Heartless dropped to the ground. Aside from the metal around the right eye which continued to spin, the Midnight Ball was completely immobile

It started to arch forward. Realizing that if it falls forward, the mice would not be able to get out safely, Sora and Mickey threw themselves at the Heartless' head and chest. They hit it with all of their strength and succeeded in sending it rolling backwards. Riku and Donald ran out of the way as the Heartless came crashing down.

Jaq and his mouse friends climbed up onto the central gear and jumped up through the hole in the glass. "Did we do it?" Jaq asked.

Sora nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. "You did it," he replied. "Thanks."

Kairi and Goofy smiled as they watched the Heartless go down. Pete gulped. While his foes were looking the other way, he tapped his foot on the ground. This time, a Corridor of Darkness did materialize behind him. Kairi and Goofy heard this and turned back to Pete.

"Well, see you later," Pete said with a chuckle. Glad to finally have a victory, he turned and ran into the portal. Kairi and Goofy ran after him, but the portal closed before they could reach it.

"Nuts," Kairi said under her breath. She shrugged. "Oh, well. I guess we'd better help them finish it off.

In less than a minute, with the combined power of all magic users as well as the sword and shield attacks by Goofy, Prince Charming, and the guards, the Heartless soon could not take any more damage and faded into dark smoke, leaving a crystalline heart behind to float away.

Mickey looked past Kairi and Goofy. "Where's Pete?" he asked.

Kairi and Goofy looked down shamefully. "He got away," Goofy replied.

"Well, no use wallowing in it," Riku said. "Let's head back inside and talk to the Grand Duke."

His friends nodded and, accompanied by Cinderella, Prince Charming, Jaq and the mice, and the guards, they reentered the castle.

"I see," the King said after they explained what had happened. "Well, that is unfortunate."

"Oh, now what shall we do?" the Grand Duke lamented. "If they commandeer all of the artifacts, well… well…"

"Hey, they still have a long way to go," Sora interrupted. "We'll get ahead of them and make sure they don't get them all."

"Would you be able to give us any information to help us on our own search?" Mickey asked.

The Grand Duke sighed. "To be honest, when I was entrusted with the responsibility, I became so afraid of the power that it safeguarded that I refused to allow myself to learn more," he admitted pitifully. "But, seeing how the artifacts are being sought out by a sinister party, and how you seek to thwart them, I now realize that it was a mistake to shirk the full responsibility."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Riku replied. "We all make mistakes and do things that we realize later on that we shouldn't have. You did what you thought was right. You couldn't have expected that someone who knew about the artifacts would use the Heartless and try to take advantage of them."

The Grand Duke sighed. "I suppose you're right," he said.

"Well, I suppose we should get going," Mickey said. He knelt before the King, and the rest of the party followed suit, including Sora.

"We'll do whatever we can to bring the artifact back," Sora promised.

The King nodded. Cinderella smiled. "Good luck. We'll be right here, offering whatever strength we can," the Princess of Heart assured them.

The King bade them to stand, then waved them off. "We'll be fine here," he told them. "We have faith in you." Prince Charming and the Grand Duke nodded in agreement.

Sora waved good-bye and the party turned and walked out of the ballroom. They walked through the front door and found a Safe Point to the right of the fountain, which they used to beam up to the Gummi Ship.

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy stood around the cockpit, contemplating recent developments. They were all aware that, while Pete had gotten away with the artifact, they were now close to understanding how to find the others. But there was one more thing that they had discussed that continued to eat at Sora, Riku and Kairi.

Sora turned to Mickey. "Hey, your Majesty," he addressed the mouse. "What were you saying earlier about the χ-blade thing? And how does Xehanort fit into all this?"

As I'm about to bridge between the end of this world to the beginning of the next one's story, I feel it is a good time to call for open-ended suggestions. See, I have all of the planned worlds mapped out, but I don't actually have a full story for most of them, especially in terms of second visits. Would any of my wonderful readers like to offer suggestions on how to drive the individual stories and subplots? I won't spoil what I plan to show, but I would like to hear what you have to say... in a literary manner of speaking. I'll be open to suggestions for worlds based on Disney properties (not just the movies) and Square Enix properties, including Final Fantasy and a few other titles. I'll be sure to let you know what I think of them. Thank you!

And, of course, I'm always open to constructive criticism. Let me know what you think, and don't be afraid to tell me where you think I could do better. But, of course, be sure to be civil about it.