Kairi found herself exploring a beautiful garden belonging to a nearby castle. It was full of roses with butterflies fluttering every which way.

Saki poofed by her side at once, giving an excited trill to see all the flowers.

"You feel right at home, huh?" Kairi grinned.

Just then, she heard a light humming of a familiar voice. She peeked around a nearby bush to see Minnie wearing a fancy pink gown with a crown on her head. Kairi had never seen her dressed so formally but she supposed she'd have to at some points, being a Queen and all. She was about to say hello before she noticed she wasn't the only one watching the mouse.

Three suspicious-looking figures in dark masks watched from afar, following Minnie as she danced around the garden. One lugged along a heavy safe.

"What are they up to?" Kairi wondered. She watched as they heaved the safe up the castle steps and onto a balcony.

Minnie sat down on the steps below it, off in a daydream.

"They couldn't be…"Kairi whispered to herself but her suspicions were quickly confirmed as the trio pushed the safe closer and closer to the edge. It teetered dangerously over Minnie's head. "They are!"

"Look out!" Not wasting a moment, Kairi tackled her friend out of the way, just as the safe was about to crush her.

"Your Highness!" Someone called.

Kairi helped the trembling mouse to her feet as her lady in waiting ran to them. She looked up to find another familiar face.

"Daisy? What are you wearing?"

Daisy wore a purple gown and jewelry but was most surprising was the blonde wig she wore on her head. She looked up after brushing her friend off. "Do I know you?"

"Ah, well, no, I guess not…" Kairi stammered, remembering Tron and Jiminy in the previous worlds. This must be a world from her friends' past. "I'm Kairi."

"Well, thank you for protecting Princess Minnie, Kairi." Daisy smiled kindly.

Minnie nodded fervently. "Who knew there was so much danger in my own home?"

Princess… Home…Kairi looked between the two and the castle. That's right! Daisy, Clarabelle and Minnie didn't come from Disney Town like the others! Their homeworld must've fallen to darkness and then into sleep, like the other worlds I've been to!

"We must get you protection at once, Your Highness." Daisy advised, guiding her to a nearby bench.

The princess nodded in agreement before looking at Kairi. "Why not her?"

"Me?" Kairi asked in surprise. "Are you sure? Wouldn't you want someone more experienced like Dais-? Yeowch!"

"Like the musketeers, couldn't agree more!" Daisy laughed nervously after stepping on the girl's foot. "I'll send for the captain immediately! We'll meet you in the training yard shortly, your grace."

Kairi was practically dragged into the castle. Once she was sure no one was around, Daisy suddenly whipped out a dagger, pinning Kairi to the wall. "Who told you I had combat training?!"

"Eh? No one, I just know you're a great knight-!"

"Shh!" Daisy covered her mouth. "Someone could hear you!"

Kairi gave a muffled sorry before being released. "Why are you so worried people will find out?"

"Because it's not allowed." Daisy muttered, hiding the dagger back in her wig. "I trained myself in the ways of the sword so I could defend myself, and then so I could defend the princess. But nobody knows about it. A woman isn't allowed to be a musketeer in this day and age."

"Really?" Kairi asked before pouting slightly. "Well, that's not fair at all!"

"It's just the way things are done around here."

"Oh, so it's the world order!"

"The what?"

"Er, nothing. I just mean I won't tell anyone." Kairi shrugged before summoning her keyblade. "But eventually, I know you'll be able to fight freely by my side! You can start by telling the princess, I'm sure she'll understand!"

Daisy narrowed her eyes in confusion, looking the girl square in the face. "I know but there's always the chance… Mm, we'd better get some actual musketeers to protect the princess."

She grabbed a nearby phone and dialed for the captain.

"Bonjour." A bubbly voice answered. "Pete's secret lair, Clarabelle speaking."

"Clarabelle!" Kairi gasped, unable to hold back her excitement.

"Yes, hi, just a moment." Daisy covered the receiver before looking back to the girl. "You know Clarabelle? Also, why does Pete have a secret lair?"

"Oh, uh, I've heard great things!" Kairi answered earnestly, not hearing the second question. "I'd like to meet her!"

"If you say so." Daisy shrugged before getting back on the phone. "Ahem, the princess would like to see you and the captain straight away with a group of your finest musketeers to be the princess' bodyguards."

Not long after making the request, the captain and lieutenant walked into the throne room.

Kairi didn't recognize the captain, a big cat named Pete, but certainly knew it was Clarabelle when she walked in.

"Your Highness, it's an honor!" Clarabelle cried, curtseying as low as she could. "I never would've expected you to summon a once farmhand like me!"

"Actually, it was Kairi who asked for your presence." Minnie said, gesturing to the girl.

Clarabelle looked over to see the girl standing somewhat rigidly beside the throne. "Oh?"

"That's right. I've heard wonderful things about you!" Kairi smiled.

"Wonderful? Me?" The cow asked in disbelief.

"You likely got me and the lieutenant confused, little lady." Captain Pete laughed heartily, making Kairi frown. "I'm the one doing the heroic deeds around here!"

"Yes, captain." Clarabelle nodded, clearly being used to stroking his ego and belittling her own since it kept her a job.

"Speaking of heroic deeds, the musketeers?" Daisy reminded them.

"Ah, yes! Well then, Princess, it's without further ado that I present to you for your complete safety and protection: Your musketeers!"

The doors opened to reveal two musketeers wrestling with a golden suit of armor, Kairi recognized them as the court magician and captain of the guard of Disney Castle from her time.

Noticing the princess was watching, they immediately went to attention, allowing the armor to fall and reveal their third, Mickey.

The princess leaned forward in surprise, a blush growing on her face as the two met eyes.

Kairi glanced between the spell-struck mice before seeing the connection they'd already picked up on. It was like they'd shared a paopu fruit without knowing. So this must be how the King and Queen first met! He was assigned to be her protector. How romantic!

"It's time to cut the cheese!"

"Hm?" Kairi glanced over from the scene to see Daisy with a tray of fruits and cheese, a small knife sat beside it. "Oh, thank you!"

The moment the musketeers saw the knife, they flew into a panic.

"Knife!"

"Bad guy!"

"Grab her!"

"Hey, hold on a minute!" Kairi summoned her keyblade at once, blocking their charge to Daisy. "Daisy's not a bad guy!"

"A key!" The three chorused in shock.

Daisy and Minnie didn't seem to recognize it at all, unlike the trio.

"Do you know about Kairi's mysterious weapon, my musketeers?" Minnie asked curiously.

"Ah, well, we've seen them before in our travels, Your Highness." Mickey quickly explained before eying Kairi. "Kairi, my friends, and I came from far away. But we don't want to bore you with the details…"

Kairi quickly unsummoned it, realizing this trio must be on a mission like she, Clarabelle and Daisy often were and they had to keep the world order. She never realized the king was a keyblade wielder as well. They must be on special assignment to protect the princess for some reason…

Kairi heard a knock on her guest room door and peeked out to see Daisy looking completely disheveled.

"How was your day looking for that keyhole?" She asked tiredly.

"Uh, fine, a few Nightmares here and there but… good." Kairi answered, knowing she was only asking so Kairi would do the same. "How was your day with the princess?"

"Awful." Daisy moaned as she stumbled in only to collapse on the bed.

"What happened?" Kairi asked, sitting down beside her.

She rolled over, the wig falling off. "Our carriage was hijacked by bandits who picked off the musketeers one by one and locked us up. I wanted to take out my dagger so badly but the princess said not to worry, since the musketeers would save us."

"And did they?"

"Just barely, it's like two of them weren't even used to wielding a sword." The duck muttered. "It only proves what I already knew! Those numbskulls were handpicked by Pete so the princess wouldn't be well-protected! I have a feeling he's up to something and it'll happen at the opera tomorrow."

"We've got to protect the princess!" Kairi exclaimed, clasping her hands.

"My thoughts exactly." Daisy nodded. "We'll defend the princess and put a stop to Pete's plan tomorrow night!"

Kairi nodded but then thought of something just as important. She sprang up at once. "Wait, what about Clarabelle? She doesn't know Pete's a bad guy!"

"Kairi, wait!" Daisy yelled but she was already out the door.

After searching high and low throughout the castle, Kairi finally found Clarabelle in the kitchen, just finishing dinner.

"Clarabelle! Thank goodness I found you!" Kairi sighed in relief, running up to her before giving her a hug.

"Whoa!" Clarabelle gasped, shocked by the hug. She noticed Kairi's scared face and frowned. "What's the matter, honey?"

"It's Captain Pete." Kairi tried to explain as quickly as possible. "He's bad news. He's plotting something against the princess at the opera tomorrow night! Daisy told me so!"

Clarabelle blinked in surprise before suddenly taking Kairi's shoulders. "It's alright, Kairi. I already know about it."

"You do? Then why didn't you…?!" Kairi trailed off seeing a growing smirk on Clarabelle's face. "Y-You're with him?!"

"That's right, dearie. But thank you so much for telling me you knew too!" She said, her grip tightening on the girl. "Seems that lady in waiting knows a bit more than she seems, more than those idiots we're planning on capturing."

Kairi knew she could easily whip out her keyblade but found herself hesitating. She'd already fought Clarabelle once before, that was enough. "I'm not going to fight you…"

"Oh, good." She chuckled, placing a hand to Kairi's cheek. "Then it'll be easy to get rid of you. But first, it's time for you to take a nice, long nap…"

"What do you… mean…?" Kairi felt her eyelids droop and her limbs grow heavy, all the energy leaving her body as she collapsed into Clarabelle.

Clarabelle smiled softly, stroking her head as her breathing slowed. She only then noticed how right it felt, like a maternal instinct had taken over upon holding this strange girl. That wouldn't do.

This explained why Clarabelle's heartless was so large back in the battle of a thousand, from all the guilt she had from this time of her life. She'd never told her, and probably never wanted to.

She slowly opened her eyes to find herself hanging upside down, her body wrapped in chains. Daisy was chained with her. She gave a muffled call through the gag in her mouth, waking her friend.

Daisy awoke in surprise before struggling slightly. She looked to Kairi worriedly as they heard incoming footsteps over the loud opera music. They'd been out for a while, it seemed.

"Comfortable, girls? I made sure you had the best view in the house." Clarabelle grinned before taking off their gags.

"How could you do this?!" Daisy growled in anger, the chain swinging wildly.

"Oh, where to begin?" Clarabelle chuckled, ignoring her. "Why don't you just start by begging for your lives, that's the fun part."

"You don't believe that. I know you don't!" Kairi insisted quickly. "There must be some reason you did all this! Why you did everything you've done! It's alright, you can tell me now!"

Clarabelle stared at her in confusion. Why did she feel like she could trust her? Because she somehow knew this sadist her was all an act? "… I just… I got rid of them before they could get rid of me… I did what they would've done if they figured out my secret."

"What secret?" Daisy asked.

Kairi thought about it and then realized there was something she hadn't seen Clarabelle do the entire time she was in this world, at least, not in public. "It's your magic, isn't it?"

Clarabelle's eyes widened in fear. "How did you know about that?! Did you tell someone?!"

"No, no!" Kari assured her quickly. "I just got a gut feeling."

"You have magic? Like, real magic?" Daisy whispered in shock. She must've never found out in the true version of events.

"I guess there's no point in hiding it now..." Clarabelle sighed before showing them an orb of fire that appeared from her hand. "When I first displayed magic as a calf to my hometown, they turned against me, said I was an evil witch before trying to get rid of me… Captain Pete saved me though and promised he wouldn't tell anyone as long as I worked for him. He also warned me to get rid of anyone who suspected I had magic in the first place, if I didn't want to end up on the chopping block."

"How did you know people wanted to hurt you or suspected you?"

"…When the Captain told me..."

There was a long silence before Daisy spoke again, "Clarabelle, I think he just told you that so you'd get rid of them."

"He used your fear to turn you into a weapon…" Kairi realized, recognizing it from her time against the Organization.

"N-No, that's not…" Clarabelle trailed off, sniffling slightly. Deep down, she knew it was true the moment they'd said it. "I've done so many horrible things…unforgivable things…"

"… You know, I have a friend that's a lot like you, Clarabelle." Kairi supplied, making her look up through the tears. "She did a lot of bad things in the past and had a lot of guilt and shame because of it… She changed thanks to the love her friends and I showed her. She became a better person, one who was worth all the trouble it would take to untangle her from that dark path. Now, she's one of the kindest people I know. And I love her beyond explanation."

"This friend…" Clarabelle whispered, looking up at her. "H-How can you not hate her for what she's done?!"

"I think she was worried about that too. But I'd simply tell her she's all the more amazing for becoming the person she is today despite coming from that darkness. I could never, ever hate her."

"… How'd she do it?"

"Well, it started by meeting a friend or two, people who accepted her for who she was, even if it was different from the order of things." Kairi smiled. "I already have two in mind."

"I had no idea you were going through this, Clarabelle." Daisy started sadly. "But I know what it's like. Having to hide who you are, scared they'll come after you if anyone found out… it's really scary. But hearing this, I know all we need is a friend to lean on. I'd like to offer myself, if you don't mind."

Clarabelle slowly nodded in slight disbelief. "Alright… we're friends then…"

"Don't forget me and the Que- Princess! We want to be your friends too!" Kairi protested quickly, making the others laugh.

"Alright then, we're all friends." Clarabelle agreed.

Kairi smiled happily. In the real version, Minnie must've been the one to discover Clarabelle's magic and offer her friendship first... Daisy didn't know about it for a long time, but she accepted it right away.. I know the reverse will be true here too.

"Speaking of, I'm not sure this is how friends really spend time together…" Daisy suddenly said, gesturing to the chains.

"Oh, right!" Clarabelle gasped, quickly letting them down.

"I dunno, we were just 'hanging' out." Kairi grinned as they were set free, causing Clarabelle to laugh.

"Ugggh, don't make me regret this." Daisy moaned.

"Alright, Pete should've had the Beagle Boys kidnap the Princess by now but don't worry, I already got help on the case!"

Just then, they heard a chorus of screams and looked over to see the three musketeers holding on tightly to a wooden chest in a tug-a-war against Pete.

The chest suddenly slipped out of their fingers, sending it down towards the stage.

"Princess!" Mickey yelled.

"Princess?!" The trio chorused.

"On my way, Princess! Hold on tight!" Daisy suddenly hugged her new friends to her side before swinging down to the stage.

Kairi leapt off midway to challenge Pete before he could end Mickey, summoning her keyblade and using it to unlock the chest. "En garde!"

"What?!" Pete turned to see Daisy and Mickey waiting behind him. The Princess was under Clarabelle's protective shield.

"Nowhere to run!" Daisy announced, pointing a sword she'd stolen from a Beagle Boy.

Mickey nodded before raising his sword. "Everyone, charge!"

Pete gave a howl in pain as he was stabbed in the rear end by two swords and a key.

"And don't forget about us!" Donald called, he and Goofy had managed to get back up to the stage after falling through it. They slammed the tiny crown on his head down, flattening his face in a cartoonish way.

He collapsed to the ground then, finally unconscious.

"Hooray!" Donald cheered.

Clarabelle smiled in relief, hugging her three new friends. "We did it!"

"Oh, thank you, all of you!" The Princess smiled, clasping her hands to her heart. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your brave efforts! Everyone, please kneel!"

They did so and the Princess picked up a nearby sword, tapping each pair of shoulders. "I officially anoint thee musketeers!"

The boys cheered and hollered in excitement while Daisy blinked in surprise.

"But Your Highness, the order-!"

"It will be changed." Minnie assured her. "Maybe you could teach me a thing or two while I work on it?"

"I'd be delighted, Princess." Daisy smiled gently.

The trio came together then, nearly as ecstatic as the others about their new titles. They heard the musketeers chant out a familiar phrase.

"Come on, we have to do it too!" Kairi begged.

The other two giggled and placed their hands in the center as they unknowingly chorused with Riku and Sora. "All for one, and one for all!"

The next morning after a long night of feasting, Kairi was ready to head off to the next world.

"Do you have to go?" The Princess asked sadly.

She nodded, sadly remembering even if she stuck around it wouldn't change the world's fate. She knew it lead to the ladies finding love and friendship, and eventually Kairi herself. But it was a shame their home was the cost of it. "I do. But don't worry, we'll meet again when you're older and I'm younger!"

They stared in confusion.

"Ha ha, I think what she means to say is you'll always be connected by your hearts, right, Kairi?" Mickey asked.

Kairi nodded with a laugh. Right. Like Riku, Sora, and all my friends from other worlds. I hope someday we get to visit this place in our time… maybe we can after the exam?

She raised her keyblade up to the keyhole and went on to the next world.

As you guys can probably tell, a lot more thought went into The Country of Musketeers than a lot of the other worlds! This is mainly because I've been planning and hinting it since all the way back in KH2! Hence why Clarabelle had such a large Heartless, why Minnie elected Queen of Disney instead of being born as it, and how Daisy learned swordplay despite keeping her position as a lady in waiting. It's also how the trios first met seeing as Mickey, Donald and Goofy were on a mission there when the world fell to darkness, they escaped in the Gummi ship.