Jaune Arc held his shield in his left hand and Kairi's left hand in his right. Kairi's other hand was occupied by her blade.
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy led this group through the maintenance tunnels; Yuffie and Nora walked behind Jaune and Kairi, shooting each other the occasional glance to make sure they were all right and the occasional smile to try and lift spirits. Ienzo brought up the rear of the group, spellbook open and at the ready.
The Nightmares had given them only a little trouble. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy had been able to fend off most of the attacks between only the three of them. The others were ready to help at a moment's notice all the same.
It seemed, at first, as though they were going to make it to the castle without incident. Their way was not blocked by so many chasms filled with thinner, and neither Slumbergath nor Tantabus came to hinder them.
"This isn't going to be easy, you know," Ienzo said as a reminder. "We are attempting to take on Maleficent's entire force. That is something we have never been close to accomplishing."
"We have to try," Kairi insisted. "This world depends on it. RIKU depends on it. I'm ready to risk everything to save them." She paused. "Everything I have, anyway. I'm not…ready to risk any of you."
"But we're ready to make the same sacrifice," Jaune told her. "We all know what we're signing up for. If it means I don't make it out of there…well, it was better than doing nothing. And you know something? I don't even know if I could be this brave if I hadn't seen you take the initiative first. If you're ready to walk in there and face them all down…then so am I."
"I'm proud to call you my sister," Ienzo told Kairi. "I might not have had the initiative myself. I always did prefer to hide in the safety of illusion."
"Don't sell yourself short," Kairi replied. "Riku told me you were the mastermind of the basement levels of Castle Oblivion. That took leadership."
"I wish I had a better example of it," Ienzo said, though with a rather amused smile. "I, too, am prepared to sacrifice my own life in the name of saving this kingdom. My kingdom. And for Riku. He suffered enough at my hands, once. He does not need to be lost because I did nothing."
"Why are you all talking like we're gonna die?" Nora groaned. "Sure, we've never taken on this many bad guys before. Sure, everything's a giant nightmare that's out to get us. But we haven't died all those other times the odds were impossible, right? Give us some credit!"
"You're with Nora and me," Yuffie insisted, "so you're not gonna be risking everything. The two of us are gonna carry this team."
"You two were captured by Mozenrath's friends, remember?" Donald huffed. "And there were only four of them!"
"They got lucky," Nora said as she rolled her eyes.
"THERE WERE SIX OF YOU!" Donald reminded her.
"Shut up!" Yuffie snapped. "We could totally take them in a rematch! They caught us off guard with that whole fake friend thing! This time, we know what we're in for!"
"Do we know what we're in for?" Jaune asked worriedly.
"Nora and Yuffie are on to somethin'," Mickey insisted. "Being ready to make a sacrifice is a noble thing, but we gotta go in there thinkin' we can make it! If we don't, then we're sure to fail! But so long as we stick together and keep our chins up, we can do anything!"
"So long as we've got each other," Goofy insisted, "I know things'll turn out all right!"
The passage opened up into a glassy area. When Mickey saw what awaited them there, he stopped dead in his tracks. Most of the others halted, following his lead. Goofy alone strode forward with a spring in his step as he hummed a little tune; Mickey unfroze just long enough to surge forward and seize his arm. "Stop!" he hissed.
"What's wrong?" Goofy asked.
Mickey used his Keyblade to point toward the hulking dark shape, twice the size of a house, that slithered at the far end of the open area. "That," he said quietly. "We've gotta go back and find another way."
"We can take that thing!" Nora urged. "It just looks like a big pile of sludge!"
"It's not sludge," Mickey informed her. "It's a fusion of paint and thinner."
"Wouldn't that cancel each other out?" Jaune wondered out loud.
"Not in a nightmare," Mickey informed him as he backtracked. "We can't get that thing's attention. We just might be able to take it in a fight, but if it's what I think it is, then it won't be easy. We gotta save our strength for Maleficent."
The group followed Mickey's lead. "Y'know," Goofy observed, "that thing we just left behind kinda looked like that one fella. You know, the one that's always pullin' off big crime schemes in that cloak that makes him look all inky. Now, what was his name…?"
"You mean the Phantom Blot?" Donald identified.
Goofy snapped his fingers. "That's the one!"
"So who's the Phantom Blot?" Yuffie asked.
"A big-time criminal back home in Disney Town!" Donald explained. "He runs around doin' all sorts of bad things while wearin' a cloak! We've had to stop him a bunch of times 'cause he was doin' evil schemes! There were robberies, and kidnappings, and vandalism…"
"I don't think he does that stuff 'cause he gets money out of it," Goofy said sternly. "I think he just likes bein' nasty!"
"I doubt there is any connection between a monster too powerful for us to fight and a common criminal," Ienzo commented.
"Actually, that's where you'd be wrong," Mickey said mournfully. "That thing is sorta like the Blot. I think the Blot is the whole reason that thing exists. The first time I ever had a nightmare about it, it was right after the big arson caper. The Phantom Blot had set half the town on fire, and we were all afraid for the whole kingdom. It took all the forces of Disney Castle to find him and stop him, and it's a miracle that we were able to put out the fire before things got too bad. But that night, I was more scared of him than I'd ever been. It really just shook me up to think that one bad guy could nearly destroy the kingdom. So I stayed up late working on some paintings. I fell asleep at my worktable, and that's the first time I dreamed about the supplies I was using turning against me. They all melted together to make a giant Blot that destroyed Disney Town. It couldn't talk like the Phantom Blot, and it was more of a monster than a person, but I know he was the inspiration for the creature. I thought it would all be over when I woke up, but that creature started showing up in my dreams more and more often. I even gave it a name in my head. I started thinkin' of it as the Shadow Blot. I should've known Maleficent would find the Shadow Blot in my nightmares and bring it out!"
"Wait," Jaune urged. "Did you say that thing was strong enough to destroy the whole kingdom in your dreams?"
"That's why we shouldn't fight it," Mickey insisted. "I don't even know if we could. It's pretty powerful. Whenever I try to fight it in my dreams, it sucks me inside of it, and you don't even wanna know what that's like!"
"So we'll find another way," Kairi insisted.
That other way took them to the fountain walls. "We're close to the castle," Mickey realized.
As they passed by the walls down which water still miraculously flowed, Kairi spotted a strange shape huddled beneath the falls, soaking in the waters. "There's someone there," she announced.
"Don't pay any attention to them!" Donald commanded. "It's probably another nightmare!"
But Kairi had let go of Jaune's hand, dismissing her sword altogether to approach the person curled up and hugging her knees beneath the fountain water. She was sure this was not a threat; it looked to be someone in distress. As Kairi grew closer, she realized she recognized the person; though the monochrome cast took away her signature blue, she was still distinct. "Lapis?"
Lapis' head had been buried in her arms, forehead resting against her knees. When she heard Kairi's voice, she jerked it upward, giving Kairi a glare. "What do YOU want?" she practically growled.
"Are you okay?" Kairi asked. "You looked…" She searched for the word and couldn't find one less extreme than "Hopeless."
"I AM hopeless," Lapis replied, her voice cracking with anger and melancholy. "I came here to get away from things like this, and now I'm trapped in whatever this is!"
"What happened to you?" Kairi asked.
"What HAPPENED?" Lapis repeated as she rose to her feet. "First, all the color went away. Then the ocean turned on me, trying to swallow me and chain me down in it. Just like in my worst nightmares. I knew something was wrong with this world, so I tried to leave, but I can't! There's some kind of barrier that won't let me leave!" She clutched her head in her hands, tearing at her hair. "I've flown all over, and everything's like this! There are monsters, and the earth is falling apart, and I can't escape it!"
"Maleficent's barrier," Kairi realized. "It's stopping everyone from getting out."
"You KNOW who did this?" Lapis cried.
"Our enemy," Kairi explained. "Maleficent. She brought our nightmares to life so she could – "
"I DON'T CARE!" Lapis screamed. "IT'S THE SAME STORY WHEREVER I GO! THERE'S ALWAYS SOME WARLORD OR CONQUEROR WHO TURNS THE WORLD INTO A LIVING NIGHTMARE! I JUST WANTED TO FIND SOMEWHERE I COULD LIVE IN PEACE!" When she lifted her head, it was clear a reservoir of tears had broken loose from her eyes, rinsing her cheeks. "But there's nowhere," she concluded. "There's nowhere I can ever go that I'll be safe."
Kairi didn't know what to say at first. The others were struck into silence, knowing they should let Kairi make the first move. At last, Kairi said, "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to you in the past, but I can tell it hurt you. And I wish this wasn't happening to hurt you now. There isn't much we can offer you to help. But if you want…you could come with us."
"Where are you even going?" Lapis asked. "Where do you think you can be safe in all of this?"
"We can't," Kairi told her. "That's why we're going to fight. We're going to stop Maleficent and make her put this world right again."
"I won't fight," Lapis insisted. "Not again."
"That's your choice," Kairi told her. She then turned back to the others in her team; "Isn't there somewhere we can take her that would keep her safe until we fixed things?"
"But we're so close to the castle!" Nora urged. "We can't turn back now!"
Donald folded his arms. "If we stop to try and help every person we run into along the way, we'll never get there!"
"But we can't leave her," Kairi insisted.
Yuffie sighed. "The safest place in the entire kingdom is the one where Maleficent lives now," she said soberly. "There are plenty of places you can hide, but nowhere that could be completely safe from all this."
Lapis turned her head to the side. "Just leave me alone," she said mournfully. "Do what you have to do. You can't help me."
"How do you two know each other, anyway?" Jaune asked.
"We met on the beach," Kairi explained. "She's the one who lives in the barn." A sudden thought struck her: "Is the barn – "
"The barn is fine," Lapis said curtly. "I moved it to higher ground. I tried to take it with me when I left, but I couldn't get it past that barrier." She sighed. "Just go already. I'm just holding you back. You're obviously close to where you need to go, and you're wasting your time talking to me. So please – "
"MICKEY!" Goofy cried, pointing to the upper walls that surrounded the fountains. "LOOK OUT!"
"Huh?" Mickey turned his attention to where Goofy's finger indicated. "Oh, no!"
A deep black liquid was seeping over the edge of the wall. It was far too dark to be water. Given what they'd almost run into earlier, there was only one explanation for what it could be. A great glob of it slapped down onto the ground, bubbling up into a mass with a crude face illuminated within.
"IT'S THE SHADOW BLOT!" Mickey cried.
Now enough of the inky substance had trickled in over the wall to give the Shadow Blot a lengthy body, and there was still more coming. It rose up, sprouting two wickedly clawed arms. The expression on its face was one of pure malicious joy. It loaded up its hands with blobs of the liquid that made up its form, hefting them at the unlucky group.
Goofy and Jaune intercepted, letting the substance splatter against their shields. Nora sprang, swinging Magnhild hard as Yuffie gave her cover with a rain of shuriken from behind. Magnhild's head slammed into the Blot, sending it reeling.
"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" Donald cried. "HURRY!"
Kairi grabbed Lapis' hand and ran with her toward the exit to the fountain yard. The Blot regained its balance, swooping overhead to catch up to them. It landed down in front of the pair, planting itself firmly on the ground and opening its mouth wide. Air sucked toward its mouth; Lapis was pulled toward the gaping maw.
Kairi held firm to Lapis' hand; Lapis' feet were lifted off the ground as she was carried on the Blot's inward breath. Kairi planted her feet, leaning back to provide a counterweight and anchor Lapis to the ground. Ienzo was immediately at her side, grasping Lapis' other hand.
The Blot's breath was interrupted by a massive explosion of fire that Donald had cast beneath it. It exploded into droplets that spattered the walls, slowly crawling back toward each other to reform.
Lapis collapsed to the ground, but she couldn't stay there for long; Ienzo and Kairi lifted her to her feet. "You must run," Ienzo commanded.
"LET'S GO, FELLAS!" Goofy urged, barreling past.
Kairi, Ienzo, and Lapis raced out of the fountain yard and into the main street network closer to the castle. Nora and Yuffie followed, Yuffie stopping to throw more shuriken at the droplets and break them up further to buy time. Goofy, Donald, and Jaune were hot on their heels.
The Blot had gathered enough of itself to rise up once more. Mickey turned at its sapling form, not yet strong at all. He launched the Keyblade just once.
The spinning weapon severed the Blot's head from its body; arms sprouted and immediately began wildly searching for enough paint-thinner composition to reform a head.
Mickey sped after his friends, and they dashed into the streets, taking enough twists and turns to thoroughly lose the Blot. When at last they were sure it had been left behind, they all stopped to catch their breath in the flower plaza.
"Is everyone okay?" Kairi asked.
"I think so," Yuffie replied.
"Don't speak for all of us!" Donald snapped.
"But Donald," Goofy argued, "we're all here and accounted for."
Lapis looked Kairi dead in the eye, her expression considerably softened. "You protected me," she said in awe.
"Of course we did," Kairi replied. "That's what friends do."
"Are we really friends?" Lapis asked doubtfully.
"Well, Sora would say we are, anyway," Kairi laughed. "We may not have known you for long – "
"But we know we're gonna fight for you!" Nora broke in, flexing for emphasis.
"No turning back now!" Yuffie said with a grin.
"I'm just so used to having to fight for myself," Lapis admitted. "The thought of other people fighting for me…I knew it could happen, but I guess I never believed it." She sighed. "I'm not a very good friend, then. I never fought for my friends back home. They all think I did, but I was really just out to get revenge for myself."
"There are other ways to show that you're a good friend besides fighting," Kairi assured her.
"But if you've never fought for your friends before," Jaune added, "maybe now's the time to start."
"You know," Lapis admitted, "I've had…a lot of time alone to think. And I did think of that. Several times. I think it took me seeing you band together to really convince me that that was the right way to think." She gave a firm nod. "I've made up my mind. I'll go with you. If you still want me."
"Of course we still want ya!" Mickey said cheerily.
"We'll take all the help we can get!" Donald huffed.
"And it seems you need a way to reach emotional closure," Ienzo observed.
"You protected me," Lapis insisted, "so I'll help you. Like I should have helped my friends back home instead of just running away. You said it yourself. There's nowhere left that's safe, and there's only one way to fix this."
Kairi put her right hand out. "Welcome to the team."
Lapis shook that hand gingerly. "Thank you."
Kairi turned her vision to the castle that loomed, ever colorful, on the horizon. "We're almost there," she declared. Then, softer, "Hang on, Riku."
...
Harley Quinn hoped no one would notice her presence in the magic labs, for today, she was not alone.
She usually tried to time it right so that no one was in the labs in Villain's Vale; the Radiant Garden castle laboratory had been set up in much the same way but with different architecture. Just like before, the alcove of books detailing various spells was set in the entryway; beyond, the shelves of magical implements and ingredients surrounded the work cauldrons. It was the books that interested Harley more than anything else. It didn't seem that a person like her could simply learn most magics; you had to be born a mage or granted a Keyblade in order to hold that power. There were, however, exceptions she had found.
As she found herself round the bend of the shelf doing her usual studies, Ursula and Jafar had entered the area. That would have been her cue to cut and run, but they passed right by her without noticing her, proceeding directly to the cauldrons, and Harley had theorized she could keep working in silence without having to interact with either. Ursula hardly ever used the labs back in the Vale, having her own chambers set up with a store of potion ingredients and a better cauldron. It seemed she hadn't had the space to make a private lab here.
Harley pored over the book she'd retrieved, flipping the pages with one hand while holding a small pile of golden sand in the other. The magic of the Witches of the Sand, as it turned out, could be learned by anyone, though it was difficult to master. Reality warping on the scale Maleficent had pulled off to create this nightmare world was far beyond anything Harley could hope to achieve. She didn't know Sadira; if she had, she would have realized that Sadira was an absolute prodigy. Harley was, however, learning a few things that she knew would come in handy. For one, she could make the sand in her hand move, and at the moment, she was levitating it into a spinning ring in the air. For another, she knew the fundamentals of how to mesmerize someone with sand magic, though she hadn't had the opportunity to try it on anyone yet and had no idea who could stand in as a guinea pig. Just to be thorough, she had also read up on how to break mesmerism, sand-induced or otherwise, with sand magic. Just in case she would have to undo something she had done.
Perhaps she didn't need to keep it so secret. Surely Maleficent would be proud of her for amping up her skills with something magical. All the same, she wanted her knowledge of the sands to remain with her and her alone until it was required in a necessary situation. Moreover, she didn't really want to admit, even to herself, why she had taken an interest in magic.
She didn't want to think the Joker would attack her again. But if he did, she wanted a better way to fight back.
The chapter ended; Harley let the sand fall still in her hand and closed the book she had been reading, replacing it on the shelf. She made to exit the labs at the same time that Riku, Mal, and Lianna walked right in, practically running right into her.
Time to play it cool. "Hi, hi, kids!" Harley greeted. She had to admit she felt a little bad for Riku, having been stripped of his memories and all, but you couldn't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Besides, his replacement memories were happy ones, filled with camaraderie among Maleficent's forces. "What're you doin' all the way down here?"
"We could ask you the same thing," Riku replied. "I didn't think you could work magic, Harley."
"Can't," Harley lied. "Just like lookin' around, that's all. Wish I could cast a spell or two. It looks like real fun!"
Riku smiled and nodded. "That's fair."
"We just came down here because Riku is inferior to me at magic and wants to try and close that gap a little," Mal teased.
"Hey, I'm not that far behind!" Riku laughed, knowing quite well that he was.
"Studying magic will benefit both of you," Lianna stated. "If I could cast so much as a simple spell, I would be content. You and I have that in common, Harley."
The sound of voices from the inner laboratory caught Riku's attention. "Sounds like Jafar and Ursula are already here," he identified.
"Maybe they know a trick you could learn," Mal suggested with a shrug.
"I'm not certain you should bother them," Lianna cautioned.
"Hey, they know me well enough by now," Riku said with a smile. "Can't hurt to at least ask." He proceeded through the book alcove.
"I tried to warn him," Lianna sighed, pursuing.
Mal and Harley followed. Harley's interest was now piqued; she liked Riku, and she wanted to see if he would learn anything intriguing. Sad circumstances aside, she ultimately hoped Maleficent would keep him around. He made good company, and so did the girls Maleficent had created to act as his friends.
Ursula and Jafar were in the midst of a friendly feud. Each had staked out a cauldron, adjacent to one another, in order to brew potions to stock up on. While each had chosen an ultimately different concoction to prepare, they shared a lot of the same ingredients, leading to some friction.
"Don't use up all the heather!" Ursula barked. "I'm going to need it!"
"There's certainly no way you need that much powdered galena," Jafar replied. "Hand it over and perhaps I will spare SOME heather for you."
"Why, you snake!"
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Riku couldn't help but be amused as he walked in. "Trouble in paradise?" he joked.
"It's just a simple spat," Ursula reassured him. "Always remember that sharing is an important skill. Those who don't know how to do it may find their bedclothes enchanted to spill them onto the floor in the dead of night."
"An enchantment I've removed from my quarters intermittently over the past week," Jafar replied. "If you don't want your enemies to wise up to your talents, learn some new tricks."
"Actually, learning new tricks is why we're here," Mal explained. "Riku was interested in picking up some more complicated spells."
"I'm sure you two have something you could pass on," Riku encouraged.
"Only if you have the time," Lianna said quickly. "If not, then please forgive our intrusion – "
"Why, we always have time for the children of Maleficent," Jafar said sweetly.
"After all, it's as if you're our very own," Ursula added, tone just as honeyed.
Harley was well aware it was an act, but that was fine. Neither one of them was actually going to hurt the trio, after all.
"The question is, of course, what to teach," Jafar mused. "After all, we are masters of the arcane, far beyond simple elemental spells. You are still but a child."
"So is Mal," Riku argued, "and she knows difficult spells."
That was what happened when you were a creation forged straight out of Maleficent's dreams, Harley thought. You came fully equipped with everything you needed to know.
"I'm not that young, anyway," Riku continued.
"Very well," Jafar agreed. "Perhaps there is something I can spare."
"Oh, go ahead," Ursula said snidely. "Show him something only genies can do and watch him struggle with it for the next month before he figures it out."
"Am I truly so cruel, Ursula?" Jafar replied. "I had a wealth of knowledge of sorcery before I was a genie. I can think of one particular trick that falls very in line with Riku's penchant for Darkness."
"All right," Riku urged. "Show me."
"The incantation is simple," Jafar began. "Aram kaza butabus."
It took Riku a good amount of parroting before he could correctly pronounce the incantation, but he mastered it at last.
"Don't you say that before, like, every spell you cast?" Mal asked.
"They are words of power whose meaning changes with inflection and intent," Jafar explained, his staff shimmering into his hand. "Today, however, I intend to show Riku this particular spell."
First, he aimed the staff at Riku, Mal, Lianna, and Harley, shooting a red beam toward them that solidified into a spherical deflection shield around them.
"No protection for me?" Ursula teased.
"I'd argue you could take care of yourself," Jafar replied, "but the truth is I simply couldn't care less what happens to you."
"I love you too, angelfish."
"Now, without further ado…" Jafar lifted his staff high. "ARAM KAZA BUTABUS!"
A streak of pure Darkness ran down the shaft in a spiral motion. Jafar slammed the staff onto the ground; Ursula put up her own deflection shield just as the floor exploded with a laboratory-wide radius of Darkness that jolted the cauldrons and caused both to spill a good portion of their contents.
"Ooh, that was some fireworks!" Harley cried. "You gotta try that one, Riku!"
"That does look like my speed," Riku admitted. "Okay. Let me have a shot."
Jafar beckoned Riku with a hand; Riku walked right through the deflection shield as if it were a soap bubble, leaving it to stay tight around the rest of the viewing audience.
"Don't mess up!" Mal called after him.
"Mal," Lianna sighed, "I hardly think this is the time for taunting."
"He's my brother," Mal replied. "It is ALWAYS time for taunting."
Riku raised his sword high, blade pointed down. "Aram kaza butabus," he repeated, willing Darkness into his weapon.
The Dark spiraled down the blade. Riku plunged it into the stone floor, and the lab was jolted again by another explosion, albeit less drastic than the one Jafar had caused.
"Practice does make perfect, my boy," Jafar encouraged.
"Though if you're going to practice," Ursula told him, "take it out of here and somewhere where the décor is more expendable."
"Right," Riku said with a nod. "Good plan."
"Can I come along?" Harley asked. "I wanna see you blow up some stuff with your new spell!"
"Sure thing," Riku said with a smile.
"Maybe you'll catch up to me after all," Mal said with a smug smile.
"It isn't a contest," Lianna huffed.
"Let's go find somewhere to practice," Riku urged.
The deflection shield popped. Riku, Mal, and Lianna headed out of the lab. Harley made to follow, but Ursula held her back with a "Harley, dear, a moment?"
"Yeah?" Harley hung back. "What is it?"
"What were you doing down here?" Ursula asked. "It isn't as though you can actually use magic."
"Most magic, anyway," Jafar added in a knowing tone.
"Ain't none of your business!" Harley huffed. "I go where I wanna go and I read what I wanna read! You got a problem with that?"
"Oh, none at all," Ursula replied. "Merely a passing curiosity."
"I'm gonna let you guys get back to fightin'," Harley stated. "Or flirtin'. Whichever you were doin'." With that, she bounced away.
"You realize she is most likely studying the magic of the sands," Jafar stated.
"What was your first clue?" Ursula replied. "You want to do anything about it?"
"Wait to see what she does with the knowledge," Jafar replied. "It may very well be a harmless fascination."
"Or, if the grapevine is accurate, a little bit of self-defense," Ursula suggested.
"What would she need to defend from?" Jafar asked, clueless but intrigued.
"You don't know?" Ursula was stunned. "I thought it was the talk of the castle. Your firey little bedmate hasn't even mentioned it?"
"Nothing regarding Quinn…"
"Well, get a load of this."
"Do tell."
...
A floe of ice floated out to the midst of the ocean off Ryoshima Coast. Aboard it were the remaining members of the WHAM ARMY: Problem Squad #3. The ice's creator steered it through the water, awaiting a word from one of his teammates.
The problem was he was hearing a lot of words from his teammates, and none were what he was waiting for.
"Listen, I know we're supposed to be all doom and gloom," Demyx whined, "but is it such a crime to enjoy a sunny day at the beach? This is such a waste of a good beach day. Why do we even have to do this? Actually, correction: why do I have to do this? You guys could totally do this without me. I'm just gonna swim back to shore and take a little nap – "
"Hey!" Snipe interrupted. "Don't back out on us now, coward! If you ditch us to go take a nap on the beach, I'll beat you to a pulp! This isn't a mission for cowards and babies!"
"If I'm a coward," Demyx told him, "and this isn't a mission for cowards, then this isn't a mission for me, and that means I get to go home."
"Come on, Dem," Hans urged. "Think about the cannons. Weren't you excited for the cannons?"
"That was before I saw there was nothing to blow up here," Demyx groaned.
"Not with that attitude!" Snipe retorted.
"That doesn't even make sense!" Demyx informed him. "What, if I have a better attitude, that's gonna magically make something to blow up?"
Vexen was on the verge of asking Xayide to rip his heart back out and hurl it into the ocean. Now that he was being reminded what true frustration felt like, he didn't think he could stand much more of it.
Xayide, however, had an announcement first: "It is below."
"Bring it to the surface," Vexen told her.
Ravess strode to stand by Vexen's side on the edge of the floe. "Once it is ours," she tried to reassure him, "they will spread out and we will have some peace."
That was a comforting thought.
Xayide held her hands out, bending down to keep them low. Slowly, she straightened up, raising her hands to the sky in the process.
As she did so, the waters shuddered. A great monstrosity of wood – a sunken ship – rose from the depths, coming up right beneath the ice floe so that it now slid across the deck. The six stepped off – though Demyx more accurately just slipped. The ship, once capsized, now floated once more on the waters.
"All right!" Snipe cried victoriously. "Time for CANNONS!"
"Not just yet," Vexen said sharply. "First, search the ship for explosives and gather what you find in the lower chambers. As we agreed."
"Who put you in charge?" Demyx groaned. "Seriously. There's a reason Xemnas never let you dole out missions back in the – "
"Are you QUESTIONING your intellectual superior?" Ravess snapped.
"Not if you're all just gonna yell at me," Demyx huffed.
Hans put a sympathetic hand on Demyx's shoulder. "Come on, Dem," he encouraged. "Let's just go find some bombs. It's gonna be fun. This ship is the one thing we get to blow up, and I know you wanted SOMETHING to explode."
"Point," Demyx relented.
Vexen, Ravess, Hans, Demyx, Snipe, and Xayide fanned out throughout the ship's bowels, discovering a good cargo of explosives indeed and piling them all in the lowest chamber. They reconvened on the deck.
"Now the fun begins," Vexen declared with a smirk.
He actually was almost proud to see Snipe and Demyx rush toward the onboard weaponry, the former yelling "TIME FOR CANNONS!". As the ship sailed parallel to the coast, Demyx and Snipe turned the cannons on the beach, lighting the fuses and loading up the ammo over and over again.
While destruction rained upon the beach, Vexen, Xayide, Ravess, and Hans found themselves merely observers. It would be some time before news of the warship would reach anyone, let alone Amaterasu and her band of do-gooders, and those who weren't so easily amused by gunfire would need some sort of entertainment. Luckily, Xayide had an idea. "Who wants a spot of tea?" she asked.
She conjured a table, on the ornate side, and four chairs. A delicate china tea set topped it all off. Xayide, Hans, Ravess, and Vexen all took their seats; Xayide levitated the teapot over her own cup first to prove that it did indeed contain steaming hot tea. The pot was passed around. Vexen took a sip; Earl Grey, with a bergamot scent.
"What do they even think they're accomplishing?" Ravess groaned. "All they're doing is beating up a beach."
"To their credit, we did need to create a problem that could be easily solved," Vexen recalled. "A ship of unknown origin firing upon the coast at random is a problem that must be solved. Why they take so much enjoyment out of explosions is another matter, but one quite simply explained. It is rudimentary entertainment for small minds."
"That is the most sound explanation," Ravess agreed. "At least as far as my brother is concerned."
"There does seem to be quite the divide between us," Xayide remarked. "By that, I of course mean the small-minded and the intellectual."
"Is it really, though?" Hans asked. "Are you sure they're stupid? Because with Dem, it's not that he isn't smart. He just doesn't channel it the way you two. And he thinks the whole idea of dignity is a sham."
"You seem to know quite a lot about Demyx," Xayide observed. "I did not realize you were so close."
"Dem and I have kind of been becoming friends on the side," Hans admitted. "We have some stuff in common."
"What, pray tell?" Ravess asked. "I can hardly see any similarity between you two at all."
"I dunno," Hans said with a shrug. "I can't really explain it. It's there. But that shouldn't be the most interesting thing at this table." He pointed directly at Ravess. "One of the people we're calling an idiot is your brother. Now, I know a thing or two about idiot brothers. I have twelve of them. And I know that when you call your brother an idiot, you mean it. Except for the times when you don't. And I can't for the life of me figure out which side of the fence you're on."
"Does this truly matter to you?" Ravess groaned.
"It is a curious matter," Xayide told her. "You and Snipe seem to be a matched set." She took another delicate sip of Earl Grey. "Do you love or loathe him?"
"It is complicated," Ravess said stonily.
"You need not sate these gossips' hunger with your secrets," Vexen told her.
"No," Ravess countered, "I will quiet the rumors. Most days, I cannot stand my brother. He and I once warred for who would take Cyclonia's seat in Cyclonis' absence, and no tactic was too dirty. We traded blows, and both of us ended up locked in the dungeons. I never thought I would be grateful for his presence. Our exiles, though, came at different times. We were separated for a long period, unsure if we would even survive the wastelands, let alone see a familiar face. When we found each other…" She stared down into the liquid within her cup. "It was as if we had surfaced from deep waters to take our first breath. We agreed to travel together and protect each other. It was a desperate time, and no one was around to witness us. It seemed like less of a heresy to admit we wanted to depend on each other. To this day, I think of that from time to time. I want him as far away from me as possible. And yet I never want him to leave." She stiffened. "It is perhaps too much to ask that he feels the same about me."
"Don't overanalyze it," Vexen advised. "Let your bond be what it is."
"Words I hardly thought to hear from you," Ravess admitted.
"Blame this blasted heart," Vexen replied, taking a dignified drink. "But it will ultimately serve you best not to question your alliance. At the very least, it will grant you peace of mind."
"That brings me to one other question," Hans brought up. "You and Dem."
"What about us?" Vexen asked.
"You worked together," Hans reminded him.
"We did," Vexen confirmed, "and that is the beginning and end of it."
"See, I knew Organization XIII didn't really do much team bonding," Hans recalled. "Dem made that much clear. But was there seriously nothing? You didn't even teach him how to do recon or anything?"
"I mentored his first missions when he joined the group if only to show him how the job was meant to be done," Vexen answered. "He was by far the biggest disappointment I had the dishonor of training in. I made a point of avoiding him when I could from that moment forth. He obviously was not fond of my management style, as he also made a point of avoiding me."
"What horrid luck," Xayide remarked, "that you should find yourselves again allied."
"Perhaps," Vexen replied. "Yet after all that transpired regarding the Organization, he is perhaps the only one I could reconcile with. Half of the others made it clear they wanted me dead. Demyx does not have the nerve. The other half threw their lot in with those who consider themselves the heroes. Demyx does not have the conscience. His inferiority works in my favor."
"You sure underestimating him is safe?" Hans asked.
"I know exactly how to quantify him," Vexen assured him. "There is no estimate involved."
"I see," Hans remarked, draining his teacup. "So, am I kicked out of the dignity club forever if I go ahead and start firing a cannon at the shore?"
"I will think no less of you," Xayide replied.
"Do not take her approval for granted," Ravess chimed in, "as I will, in fact, think less of you."
"Good thing I don't care," Hans said as he rose from his seat, flashing the others a smug smile.
"You, I do not yet know how to quantify," Vexen admitted. "The more I observe you, however, the clearer it will become. For instance, after this conversation, I now consider myself more enlightened as to your true nature."
"And what exactly is my true nature?" Hans asked.
"A busybody for sure," Vexen answered. "One who involves himself too heavily in what is not his business. Beyond that, I am beginning to theorize you are in fact a buffoon who masquerades as one of the elegant."
"You do know you just said that to my face," Hans replied, not letting his smile fall.
"I am aware," Vexen replied. "It does not, however, diminish your role in this operation. Your bad taste can be overlooked so long as you are efficient."
"Maybe that's what your mind says," Hans argued. "What's that newly replaced heart of yours say?"
"Nothing about those who haven't earned a place in it," Vexen said stiffly.
"Fair." Hans turned his back on the tea table and took his place at the cannon next to Demyx, stuffing ammunition down the barrel.
It was then that Amaterasu barged onto the Ryoshima beach, tailed by Sora, Ruby, Stork, Papyrus, Jasmine, Katara, Kazuichi, and Rapunzel and bearing Issun on her head. A cannon blast missed the group by a hair; Stork wasn't conscious of exactly when he had leapt into Papyrus' arms, but it happened.
"All right!" Sora summoned his Keyblade into hand. "We're gonna figure out who's on that ship and bring it down!"
"Um, no." Stork leapt down from Papyrus' grip. "This is the trap part of everything that happened so far. They WANT us to go flying at that ship. We are going to watch it until we can come up with a better strategy to – "
"THE LONGER WE WAIT, THE MORE THEY BLOW UP THE BEACH!" Papyrus insisted, having observed another cannon blast send a group of rabbits running for cover.
Meanwhile, from the deck, Snipe pointed at the arrivals; "IT'S THEM!"
"That's Sora, all right," Demyx sighed.
Vexen rose; Ravess and Xayide did so along with him. "To the lower chambers," he ordered. "Follow my lead."
"I'm going over there!" Sora insisted.
"NO, YOU ARE NOT!" Stork argued.
"WELL, I'M GOING WITH HIM!" Papyrus added. "AMATERASU, WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO PROVIDE US WITH A RIDE?"
Two lily pads were drawn in the water. Sora and Papyrus hopped onto them eagerly.
"FOR JUST THIS ONCE," Stork growled, "WILL YOU TWO NOT BE COMPLETE IDIOTS?"
Amaterasu had already conjured a great gust of wind to send the lily pads skimming across the water.
Stork stared after them, slack-jawed, until it occurred to him that he had to do something about this situation.
Sora and Papyrus landed on the empty deck, looking around for the perpetrators. "That's weird," Sora remarked as he looked at the abandoned cannons. "This ship was definitely firing those off."
Papyrus approached the tea table. "APPARENTLY THEY WERE HAVING A TEA PARTY."
"That doesn't make any sense," Sora said with a shrug.
Down below, Vexen had lit the fuse connected to the pile of explosives. He created a Corridor leading back to Shinshu Field; he, Ravess, Xayide, Hans, Demyx, and Snipe all hustled through.
"MAYBE WE SHOULD GO DOWNSTAIRS," Papyrus suggested. "THEY'RE PROBABLY HIDING – "
The entire ship exploded.
Sora and Papyrus hit the water hard as shrapnel rained down around them. Sora was barely able to process what was happening until he had sunk a fair way into the water. He had to get out. He was sinking too deep. But first, he had to find Papyrus –
A firm grip seized his waist, and Sora was dragged upward. He considered struggling, knowing he had to find Papyrus somewhere in the murky waters, but he couldn't locate the skeleton monster as he looked about, which concerned him.
His head broke the surface of the water. Sora twisted about, and the first word to leave his lips once he got his fill of air was "Papyrus – "
"I AM RIGHT HERE," a familiar voice answered.
Sora and Papyrus were both relinquished. They were able to pivot to get a better look at their rescuer. Stork had paddled all the way out to their location, diving to seize each in one arm and bring them to the surface.
"DON'T," Stork seethed, "MAKE ME DO THAT…AGAIN."
The trio swam back to the beach, where the others awaited. "Are you okay?" Rapunzel asked in concern.
"Yeah," Sora said rather angrily as he walked onto the beach. "I'm fine."
"AS AM I," Papyrus added, rather miffed.
"Did I or did I not KNOW that would happen?" Stork complained as he also surfaced. "Did I or did I not WARN you two? But nooooooo, you idiots had to go out there and get BLOWN UP for yourselves – "
"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Sora turned on a heel to glare Stork down, momentarily catching Stork off guard and drawing a flinch from him. "I'm tired of you calling me an idiot! I know I'm not as smart as some of you guys. And there are a lot of times I wish I was smarter! So stop trying to make me feel bad about it!"
"THE SAME GOES FOR ME!" Papyrus asserted. "I'M NOT AS STUPID AS PEOPLE SEEM TO THINK! YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW SANS' PET ROCK ISN'T ALIVE? OF COURSE I DO! I FEED IT BECAUSE THAT IS THE POINT OF HAVING A PET ROCK! IF YOU DON'T ACT LIKE IT'S AN ACTUAL PET, THEN WHAT'S THE POINT?"
"There's a difference here," Stork pointed out. "Papyrus, you are not STUPID. YOU are NAÏVE. Do you SERIOUSLY think giving all these horrible people a chance to make up for what they did will actually work? Do you REALLY think any of them will change?"
"IENZO DID," Papyrus said sternly. "LEA DID. AELEUS DID. KAZUICHI DID." He pointed directly at Stork. "AND YOU DID!"
Stork made a choked noise, not having expected that particular argument. "Guh…got me there," he admitted.
"Look," Sora sighed, "I don't wanna be mad at you, Stork. You're my friend, and you're a GOOD friend. You really ARE smart, and I'm glad you were there to pull us out when we messed up. But when you say that stuff about me being an idiot…it just reminds me that, well, maybe I am. Cid agrees with you, and I know a lot of other people think it."
Stork gave a sigh. "First of all," he said, "I'm not TRYING to make you feel bad about it. It just kinda…slips out. I…I need to watch that. Because here's the thing. You and I both know you and I don't think the same. That goes for you too, Papyrus. But you know what I get as payback for how I think? Gloom and doom. Fear of the worst possible scenario every single time. Insomnia. Thoughts of suicide. Seeing the worst in people. But you two? You see the good in everything." He faced Sora first. "Everything is a fun adventure for you. And you're never technically wrong about that. Do you know what I'd give to be able to look at things that optimistically? Everyone can be a friend to you." Then he faced Papyrus. "And you really believe in redemption. You DID give me and Kazuichi that second chance. I don't always agree with what you do, but you never do it halfway, and no one would catch you hiding back on the ship while the rest of his friends are in danger." He stepped back to better look at both of them. "So I might complain about you two sometimes. And that needs to stop. Because most days, I wish I could be more like you instead of…well, a nervous wreck." He closed his eyes and hung his head. "And…I'm sorry."
Papyrus lay a hand on his shoulder. "IT'LL BE ALL RIGHT," he assured Stork. "SO YOU GOT MAD AT ME SOMETIMES. AND I GOT MAD AT YOU JUST NOW. I GET MAD AT SANS ALL THE TIME, AND I STILL LOVE HIM. WHICH YOU DON'T TELL HIM, BY THE WAY."
Sora clapped a hand on Stork's other shoulder. "I already told you I didn't wanna stay mad!" he said with a smile. "We just had to talk some stuff out. It's what friends do."
Stork opened his eyes, and when he did, he looked directly at Amaterasu, who was fixing her eyes upon him. "That's why you sent them out into that obvious trap," he realized. "You knew they'd make it, but you also knew that would get us to talk things out."
Amaterasu barked; guilty.
"Ammy, you sly dog!" Issun commented. "That was your plan the whole time! Are you sure you're not one of those trickster gods?"
If Amaterasu's mouth had been capable of smirking, she would have been doing so. She was glad to have aided in reparations of her new friends' strained relationships. Hopefully things would go smoother for all of them now that she had intervened.
"We all owe you a lot," Katara realized. "You fixed a lot of our problems while we were fixing this world's."
Amaterasu shook her head, and Katara got the message; they owed her nothing. Helping her out with the various problems plaguing the world had been more than enough payment.
"In any case," Jasmine said, with a look toward Sora and Papyrus, "we're glad you're all okay."
"And if you're still worried about being stupid," Kazuichi said with a toothy grin, "just remember that I'm a total idiot, and I'm doing fine!"
That earned a laugh from the group.
It was a few minutes before this conversation took place, when Sora, Stork, and Papyrus first hit the beach, that Mozenrath, Yzma, Wuya, the Huntsman, Roman, Snatcher, Aghoul, and Mim arrived on the top of the cliff that overlooked the beach.
Mozenrath pocketed the compass, which had guided him and his fellows right to the location of the Cinnamons. "Look at them," he said with a smug grin. "None the wiser. Aren't they just adorable?"
"Just shoot them already," Roman groaned. "I'm sick of looking at Red's fucking face."
"Now, hold on," Mim commented, glancing down to the group below. "There are some new faces here since the last time I saw them. And I'm not sick of looking at THAT one's face yet."
"What, you mean Shark Teeth?" Roman said in awe when he realized where Mim was looking. "I always knew your taste was weird, but you keep setting new boundaries."
"This is no time to get attached to the looks of any of them," the Huntsman reminded her. "It is the time to remove them from the picture."
"Seems almost too good to be true," Snatcher muttered. "You're certain they haven't noticed us yet?"
"They're too busy yelling at the green one about something," Aghoul observed.
The Tube Foxes floated over Mozenrath's shoulders, whispering in his ears. "These are the heroes you spoke of?" they confirmed.
"The very same," Mozenrath assured them. "We'll get you past the front gates. What you do when you're within enemy walls is your business. But I think we're all on the same page."
"Tell us what we are to do," the Tube Foxes bade Mozenrath.
"Well, first of all," Mozenrath instructed, "I'm going to need you to turn back into rods."
"As you wish."
The Fox Rods spilled out across the ground. Yzma hurriedly gathered them up, presenting them back to Mozenrath.
Mozenrath worked some of his own magic on the rods, shrinking them down and fastening them to each other with bonds of bright blue energy. Once he had created the shaft, he added an arrowhead and fletching of his own composition. "You know," he remarked, "all this time, Cupid had the right idea put to the wrong purpose."
"Might I do the honors?" Yzma asked. "I was the one who came up with the plan, you know!"
Mozenrath thought it over, then handed the arrow off to her. "Be my guest."
"You'll need this." Wuya summoned a longbow from thin air, passing it to Yzma.
Yzma nocked the arrow on the bowstring, drawing back. She tilted the weapon through the air, fixing the point on her target. Jasmine had just said something that got the attention of all the others, and now the one Mim seemed to like the looks of was starting to speak.
In one snap, Yzma's fingers let the bowstring fire.
"And if you're still worried about being stupid," Kazuichi said with a toothy grin, "just remember that I'm a total idiot, and I'm doing fine!"
That earned a laugh from the group.
Then the arrow struck Sora directly in the chest.
"NO!" Ruby screamed.
"No, no, nonononono…" Stork muttered once he realized what had just happened.
Sora fell to his knees, clutching at the shaft of the ammunition that was half buried in his body.
"Who the FUCK fired that?" Kazuichi asked worriedly.
"Sora!" Jasmine said breathlessly.
Sora made a grasp for the arrow, but it was sinking deeper into him of its own accord. A small font of Darkness bubbled up from his chest as it continued to burrow.
Papyrus and Stork were both at the optimal angle to see: the arrow was so long, by that time, it should have pierced straight out of Sora's back. But it wasn't. As it entered Sora, it dissolved. Finally, it disappeared into him entirely, strangely leaving behind no blood.
Rapunzel approached Sora cautiously. "Sora?" she asked. "Are you – "
Amaterasu seized her skirt hem and pulled her back roughly.
"What are you DOING?" Rapunzel cried to her.
Sora heaved in a few deep breaths, letting them out heavily. "That was weird," he remarked, "but I think I – GAH!"
He was wracked with pain, dropping to his hands and knees, hands grasping at the sands of the beach before straightening out with violently twitching fingers.
Amaterasu was now dragging Papyrus away by the cape, and Katara realized why. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she screamed.
Stork didn't need to be told twice.
The fingers that shook in the sand shortened, growing a coat of brown fur and sprouting claws. Sora's legs were also shortening, becoming the same length as his arms – which were now more accurately his forelegs. His face grew sharp, his mouth becoming a snout that encased a set of knife-sharp teeth. A low growl escaped from the back of his throat. A new appendage whipped into the air, followed by eight more.
"Oh, this is just too delicious," Mozenrath said gleefully. Around him, Mim, Aghoul, Wuya, Yzma, Snatcher, and Roman were breaking out into snickers, and even the Huntsman twitched a bit, betraying the ghost of a laugh.
Amaterasu recalled the fierce demon Ninetails, former commander of the Tube Foxes. That demon had taken the form of a large white fox with nine tails. Now, infected with the Tube Foxes – for that, Amaterasu knew, had to be the source of this transformation – Sora had become the spitting image of Ninetails, but with brunette fur the color of his hair as opposed to white.
"S…Sora?" Ruby asked timidly. "Please tell me that's still you in there."
Ninetails Sora fixed his eyes upon Ruby as though she were prey waiting to be chased down. He growled hungrily.
"It's not him," Katara said hoarsely.
The Tube Foxes hadn't only given Sora a demonic makeover when they possessed him. They found certain potential within him, the sort of potential only found in Keybearers. When his soul bonded with another, he could wield a second blade, and with two at once, he could bear three Keyblades. He now had the power of all the Tube Foxes within him, and they were not going to pass up this opportunity.
At the end of one of Ninetails Sora's new tails, the Divine Rose keyblade appeared, floating at the tail's edge and acting as an extension of it. The adjacent tail gained Pumpkinhead. One by one, Three Wishes, Divewing, Brightcrest, Ferris Gear, Unbound, Oblivion, and finally Oathkeeper appeared at the tip of each tail, all glowing with a fierce aura of Darkness.
"I've said this before," Stork squeaked, "but this time, I mean it: WE'RE DOOMED."
Kazuichi simply screamed wordlessly as Jasmine and Rapunzel grabbed onto Papyrus, Katara, and Ruby, pulling them back and away from Ninetails Sora.
"How I wish we could stay and watch this," Mozenrath lamented. "They're going to have all the fun without us. But it can't be helped. We still have to get Amaterasu alone. The Fox Rods are their problem now, and hopefully, once they get through with it, we'll have fewer problems than we started out with." He turned from the cliff's edge, casting the Corridor back to Shinshu Field. "So, Mim. Ready to poison one more tree?"
"Am I ever!" Mim cried as she bounded through the Corridor.
One by one, they filtered through; Wuya was the last to linger, casting a wistful gaze down on the beach. She really did want to watch what had once been Sora tear his friends apart. On the upside, compared to what was about to happen to Amaterasu, this was mere mindless entertainment.
"WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY, WUYA," Mozenrath's voice called through the Corridor.
She vanished into it, and it snapped shut.
Amaterasu leapt out in front of Ruby, Katara, Papyrus, Rapunzel, Jasmine, Stork, and Kazuichi, striking a defensive pose and bearing her teeth. She knew she wasn't truly looking at Sora anymore. It was the Tube Foxes that drove the bloodlust behind his eyes now. She also knew she had to protect her friends from him at all costs, though the addition of nine Keyblades was going to make things difficult.
Ninetails Sora saw Amaterasu's gesture, and he was ready. Jaws wide open for the bite, he lunged.