With Clayton and the Heartless defeated, the gorillas began to emerge from the trees, Jane and Terk alongside them, staring gratefully at their saviors. Kerchak stood in front of all of them, with that same scowl seemingly plastered upon his face. Everyone froze where they were, as if worried the slightest wrong move would set the mighty simian off. Yet that scowl didn't seem quite as intimidating as when they first met Kerchak. Of course that didn't stop them from feeling intimidated, especially Sora and Jaune as their shoulders were held by Kerchak's huge hands. Before anyone could so much as peep, Sora was thrown high above, over the cliff near where the Stealth Sneak vanished. Jaune was only a second behind as he was tossed next, landing beside Sora. Both boys yelled out in shock as they were flung with the ease of tossing a pebble to skip over the water.
Donald and Goofy were next, landing beside them in an equally undignified fashion. Tarzan quickly ran up the wall using the vines, with Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha nimbly jumping about the side walls alongside him. Weiss in particular wasn't eager to be grabbed or thrown by the massive gorilla. "You guys alright?" Ruby asked in concern.
"Oh yeah. Never better." Jaune said sarcastically as he got to his feet last. Thankfully nothing about the boys seemed to be broken or badly injured...well, except for their pride.
Tarzan looked behind, watching Kerchak. The leader of the family held that ever unreadable frown as he stared in silence before finally giving a terse nod. While it was unlikely Kerchak would have said it out aloud, he did seem to be grateful for the rescue of his family. He and the other gorillas left soon after.
"Look at that!" Pyrrha called out, pointing toward the other side of their landing area. Everyone followed her hand and immediately their eyes widened with awe at what they saw. Beyond the other side of the cliff was a massive lake of clear, beautifully blue water formed by a group of waterfalls. Around this place was a copious amount of the most healthy looking plant life they'd seen yet in the jungle. Everybody went silent as they admired the lovely sight. "I never thought a savage land like this could have such a beautiful place." Weiss said in a much more gentle than usual tone.
"Such is the way of nature, I suppose." The voice of Jane drew their attention, and drew a smile to Tarzan's face as she and Terk stood side by side at the edge of the cliff. A brief downcast expression touched her face as she looked back to where the Heartless and Clayton both fell. "It's a shame about Clayton, but I suppose what matters is that the gorillas and all of us are safe." She gave a small nod to the group of brave young warriors, reassuring them that they did the right thing.
"Yeah, I guess so...But did Kerchak really have to do that?" Jaune asked, rubbing the back of his neck. That gorilla was so strong, he could probably take a whole pack of Beowulves single-handed. "I'd say it was simply his way of showing thanks." Pyrrha said with a smile, patting Jaune on the shoulder. "Well I think I've had my fill of gorilla body language for one day." Jaune commented with a shrug as he brushed himself off. His comment drew a small laugh from the rest of the group.
Blake's focus shifted to Tarzan who stepped toward the waterfall side of the cliff with a faraway look in his eyes. "Tarzan? What is it?" she asked, noticing his expression, as well as the small smile touching his face as he looked at the waterfalls. His answer was a simple statement in his usual primitive fashion.
"Tarzan, home."
"This place?" Goofy asked as he looked out at the falls with a smile. "Gawrsh. It sure is purtty." While the others might not have phrased it quite like that, it went without saying that the agreement was unanimous.
"Let's have a look around!" Ruby exclaimed as she dashed off excitedly. Her teammates and friends jerked with surprise as she bolted off, stopping when she was a ways ahead to wave to them and call out, "Come on, you guys!"
Weiss gave a weary sigh as she started walking after her with everyone else. "Honestly. She is such a child sometimes. Like a certain somebody else," she said when glancing to Sora.
"Better than somebody as cruel and unprincipled as Clayton." Blake stated bluntly. She'd gladly take a hundred Rubies and Soras any day over a single one of him.
"I'd like to think it's a sign of good natured person." Pyrrha politely said as the group began hopping along the rocks leading to the alcove near the falls where Ruby stopped
As they finally caught up, the group discovered what looked to be a cave entrance near one side of the waterfall. Despite no light source being inside, the suns rays reflected through the water of the waterfall, illuminating the tunnel more than enough to let them all see. "Wow...Even inside the the waterfall, it's so beautiful!" Ruby gushed.
As the group looked around, Jaune noticed something at a higher elevation. "Is there something up there? I think I see another tunnel." Jaune said when pointing. He started climbing some vines again but one of them snapped in his hand and he fell, hitting the back of his head. "Gaah-Oof!" "Jaune! Are you alright?" Pyrhha asked, kneeling to his side and helping him sit up. With a groan of pain and annoyance, Jaune sat himself up and bemoaned, "Why is it always me?"
Ruby, being too excited to stop began hopping, dashing and practically skipping up in the direction Jaune pointed. Once again, with everyone taking their time behind her. A much safer move as suddenly, when she reached the area Jaune pointed out, she suddenly slipped on the rocky surface due the moisture from the waterfalls. "Whoa-Agh!" That caused her heels to not have any friction, which in turn caused her to fall roughly onto her side. "Oww..."
Using his Keyblade as extra leverage to help him climb up, Sora popped up at the ledge Ruby tripped on. He gasped with worry as Weiss and Blake popped up along with him, and rushed over to help Ruby. "Ruby! Are you hurt?" he asked in concern as everyone else popped up one by one behind Weiss and Blake. Weiss shook her head in dismay at Ruby's recklessness as she and Blake aided Sora in helping Ruby up. "See? I tell her over and over again not to rush like that, but-" "Not now, Weiss." Blake said with a frown and a shake of her head.
As they helped her up Sora didn't notice his Keyblade suddenly started to glow with an intensifying green light. By the time he did notice it, the green had burst into an oddly soothing looking flash as two, what appeared to be ethereal leaves, hovered over Ruby sprinkling some sort of equally ethereal dew over her.
As the light faded, Sora noticed Ruby wasn't groaning in discomfort anymore. In fact...Ruby wasn't feeling any pain at all as she moved her supposedly injured enough, Ruby looked down at her injured side and shifted her torso, as if to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Sure enough... "The...pain's gone?...The pain's gone!" she exclaimed as she stood up, fit as a fiddle.
Sora smiled with relief along with everyone else before looking down at his Keyblade with a surprised expression. He wasn't quite sure what he did or how he did it, but he was happy he managed to heal Ruby.
Blake and Weiss watched the development with great interest, with Blake shuffling beside Sora to ask him, "How did you do that, Sora?" A question Donald was thankfully there to answer as he waddled over to them. "The Keyblade is capable of channeling and unleashing magic. Sora's been learning different spells through our journey. But I don't think I taught him the Cure spell before." Goofy shuffled over and said with a shrug, "Maybe it just came out when he saw Ruby was hurt and wanted to help?" Of course whether that theory was true or not, that begged another question. One that had been burning in Blake's mind since she first saw it. "What exactly is your weapon anyway, Sora?"
Sora looked back at Blake, trying to think of a way to explain it. At least in a way that makes sense. "Well uh, this is called a Keyblade, and...well apparently it chose me as its wielder. Aaand...that's pretty much what I've got so far." Even now, Sora wasn't sure why the Keyblade chose him, or what for. But he had it, and it seemed to be full of all kinds of tricks he never even knew.
"Hm...I see." Blake said, her eyes shifting along the key-shaped weapon, unsure of what to make of it. Normally she'd be worried about something this powerful, but if it chose someone like Sora, then perhaps it was alright.
"Perhaps we should keep moving for now?! I'd much rather see what Tarzan is leading us to so we can finish up what we're doing here and move on!" Weiss grunted, inching along the vines and mossy rocks. Her heels were doing her just about as much favors as Ruby's, but she at least managed to stay steady. And while Weiss was warming up to this world, the reminder of how wild it was also reminded her of how much she wanted to get out of it.
"Yeah, come on." Donald urged, sounding...refreshingly less irritated than when they arrived here. Or more accurately, than when Sora crashed them here.
As they resumed their climb, Tarzan led them into a little alcove with a gathering of blue butterflies with little markings that looked almost like eyes upon the upper portions of their wings. All of them seemed to be gathered around a moss covered rock that was...shimmering.
"Whoa...It's so pretty!" Ruby said in quiet awe, the instant her eyes fell upon the shimmering bundle of butterflies. This had to be the prettiest sight they'd seen in this world so far.
"Eeh-ooh, ooh-ooh ahh."
Hearing Tarzan's words, Sora turned to him. This was the only part of the jungle they had yet to explore but there was still no sign of Riku or Kairi. "This is your home? Then that means-"
He was interupted as Tarzan held a hand up to tell him to stop then put it to his ear. Everyone remained quiet to listen with him. Goofy was the first to hear a noise and Jane clarified what it was. "The waterfalls. They're echoing all the way here."
"Eeh ooh, ooh ooh ahh. Friends there. See friends."
Still unsure what he meant, the rest looked to each other. Jane, again, realized what was going on and explained. "Oh, now I've got it. 'Eeh-ooh, ooh-ooh ahh' means 'heart'. Friends in our heart."
With a pleased nod, Tarzan repeated the meaning. "Heart."
"Friends in our hearts?" Weiss asked, still not catching on.
Blake fortunately seemed to understand his meaning. "The heart is the the wellspring of all the feelings we have toward the people we know, as well as the memories we have of them. Like this place. This is the core of the waterfalls. What makes it all. And the sounds of the waterfall all collect here. It's the 'heart' of it. Just like our friends are always in our hearts."
"That's so romantic sounding." Ruby said with a soft laugh of endearment. But Sora... "Oh. So that's what it meant." he said in an absolutely depressed tone. Now realizing his friends weren't here after all, he felt so upset. He made such a nuisance of himself to his own companions, and his friends weren't even in this world.
Tarzan however lay a hand on Sora's shoulder, drawing his attention. Now that Sora finally understood, he needed to know why what he said was important. "Friends. Same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."
Tarzan's words resonated profoundly in Sora and Donald's minds. Far more powerfully than they expected, in fact. Clayton giving into his anger made him lose himself in more ways than one. After all, both Donald and Sora helped each other despite the tension between them. Maybe it was best to make amends. Not only to prevent sharing Clayton's fate, but because both parties felt guilty about the trouble they caused due to Sora's impulsiveness and Donald's insensitivity.
"Sorry about what I said." Sora said regretfully, turning to Donald. The duck wizard did the same as he apologized with equal regret, "I'm sorry too."
Seeing the two of them make up drew a great big smile to Goofy and Ruby's faces. The apologizing pair soon found themselves caught in a double group hug with Goofy on one end and Ruby on the other. "Yeah! All for one, huh?" Goofy cheerfully reminded.
"And one for all!" Ruby added joyfully.
Jane and Tarzan smiled as they saw that their new friends were taking steps along the important lesson he'd been trying to tell them. The very same thing Kala told Tarzan as a baby when she adopted him. That the people most important to them, their friends, families, loved ones, so long as they kept true to one another even when things seemed at their worst, that they'd be in each other's hearts always.
The sight drew a cheerful laugh from Pyrrha and Jaune, as well as smiles from Ruby's teammates. One with a shake of the head with Weiss, and the other with a rather relieved glance from Blake. Maybe Pyrrha was right about Sora. He really was like Ruby in all the best ways. She couldn't help but wonder if he was as understanding as Ruby as well. If so...
Before she could finish that thought, she noticed something that drew her out of her thoughts. "Look." Blake called out, pointing to the rock the butterflies were clinging to. It seemed to be glowing brighter than before.
Sora didn't know why, but...he felt almost as if something was beckoning him. He had an inkling of this same feeling in Wonderland when they saved the doorknob. And sure enough, as Sora approached, the light faded somewhat as the flock of butterflies began to flutter around the group, revealing what lay beneath them.
It was...a Keyhole. Just like the one in the Doorknob's mouth. Sora remembered what happened before, and this time he was ready to do it himself. He summoned the Keyblade and aimed it at the keyhole. Just like before, shimmers of light gathered at the tip, before unleashing a beam of that same light into the Keyhole. And again, like before, a surge of light filled the hole and the sound of something locking rang out as it vanished.
From out of the keyhole, something familiar happened again when a small object popped out of the now closed keyhole. "A gummi!" Donald said with surprise when Ruby went to pick it up and show it to the others.
Goofy sounded somewhat sad when getting a closer look. "But it's sure not the King's."
If that was true then he and Donald's friend wasn't here, either. Those other gummi pieces they found only coincidentally looked like the one that belonged to him. But at least they managed to prevent another world from being taken by the Heartless, so they took solace in the thought that the King would be proud of them for that.
The thought was broken as Donald turned to Terk gently nudging him and smiling in a...much more friendly manner than most might. He looked at the smaller gorilla with confusion. "I think someone has a new admirer." Jane said teasingly with a smirk shared by Tarzan.
Realizing what it meant, Donald jumped and flailed his hands in front of himself in a downright panicky fashion. "No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!" he said as everybody laughed at his embarrassment. Why oh why did these embarrassing things always have to happen to him?
Within the domain of shadowy figures watching over the group from the table projecting the small hologram, one of them spoke up and wondered something since none of them gave an order to their minions. "What drew the Heartless to that world?"
"The Hunter lured them there," the horned female, apparent leader of this council, explained. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was too tastey for his own good."
The explanation made the bizarrely large bodied small limbed figure laugh as he commented with that snarky, almost jazzy tone in his voice, "Yeah. He got chomped, instead."
A huff escaped the imperious man as he emerged from the deeper shadows. The clothes on his tall, skinny figure had a red and black color scheme consisting of robes, a sash, pointed shoes and a large hat with a feather embedded by a jewel. In his right hand was a long cobra-headed staff with red gems where the eyes would be. "A weak hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless. But the boy is becoming more problematic. Now he's found TWO Keyholes."
"Fear not. It will take him ages to find the rest." the horned witch said, unconcerned about Sora's progress as she magically conjured a projection of Sora, Ruby, and their friends walking back to Jane's camp. "Besides, he and the young huntress remain blissfully unaware of our other plan." she continued with a growing grin.
"Yes, the princesses." The deeper voiced, tentacle toting, rotund feminine figure agreed.
Standing within the most shaded part of the council room, Cinder couldn't help but listen ever so intently. The more she heard of this plan of theirs, the more she wondered just where her new allies stood in all of this. "And just what is so special about these princesses, Maleficent?" she inquired, walking toward the horned witch, Maleficent, who looked down at her with a grin.
"You will find out soon enough, my dear. Once we have them all, you will bear witness to the revelation of a power unlike anything your mistress could have imagined beyond your world. And they are falling into our hands one by one." Her assurance made Cinder's smirk grow wry. That was quite a claim considering the power she had acquired before Remnant was consumed.
"Speaking of which..." Maleficent's resumed speech drew everyone's attention to the right side of the table. For stumbling inside with an expression of shock, confusion, and fear was a young woman clad in a royal blue dress with a bright yellow skirt and a red and black cape upon her shoulders. Lips red as the rose. Eyes brown as the earth. Hair black as ebony, with a little red bow tied in it. Skin white as snow. She was the very picture of the word 'fair'. And now, she was as a helpless lamb within a den of wolves.
More and more, Cinder felt intrigued. If these princesses were anything like the Maidens she hunted, then this alliance with these unusual characters may be worthwhile after all.